Staff Network Systems Engineer - Network Automation & DevOps

Role overview

We're looking for a Staff Network Systems Engineer to help drive the transition of our global network infrastructure from manually managed and inconsistent configurations to a standardised, version-controlled and increasingly automated operating model.

This hands-on staff-level individual contributor will establish Infrastructure as Code practices, reusable automation, automated validation and safe delivery pipelines. The role will reduce configuration drift, make changes repeatable and auditable, and help the wider team adopt modern software-engineering practices.

Working across network engineering, security, architecture and platform teams, you'll help frame and influence technical direction, create practical standards and guardrails, and remain actively involved in enterprise network engineering and operational delivery.

What you'll be doing:

• Assess the network estate, toolchain and operational workflows; identify sources of configuration variance, manual effort and change risk; and help define a phased modernisation roadmap.
• Establish the Infrastructure as Code operating model, including the authoritative source of truth, configuration standards, source control, peer review, testing, release governance and secure handling of credentials.
• Build reusable automation using object-oriented or comparable programming languages such as Python and Go (Golang), together with Terraform, Ansible, APIs and configuration-management tooling.
• Develop CI/CD pipelines with automated linting, testing, intended-state validation, drift detection, policy checks, approvals, controlled rollout and reliable rollback patterns.
• Partner with engineering, architecture and security teams to translate network intent into version-controlled implementations and influence reference architectures, standards, lifecycle plans and service roadmaps.
• Lead the safe migration of existing services into the automated model while remaining hands-on during complex delivery, business-as-usual operations, critical changes, troubleshooting and major incidents.
• Participate in technical authority and design-review forums, mentor engineers, and ensure automation becomes a sustainable team capability rather than knowledge held by a single specialist.

What we are looking for:

• A strong track record of modernising network infrastructure through automation or Infrastructure as Code in a large, complex production environment.
• Strong software-engineering skills in object-oriented or comparable programming languages such as Python and Go (Golang), including maintainable code, structured data, API integration, testing, error handling and documentation.
• Practical experience with Terraform, Ansible or comparable tooling, including reusable, idempotent automation components and controlled infrastructure delivery.
• Strong working knowledge of Git, pull-request workflows, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, release controls, policy enforcement and secrets management.
• Deep enterprise networking knowledge across routing, switching, wireless, resilient design, network access control and secure remote connectivity, together with advanced Juniper Mist, EX Series and Junos experience or equivalent platform expertise.
• Expert troubleshooting and engineering judgement, with experience supporting operational delivery, complex changes, major incidents and root-cause improvement.
• Staff-level influence and communication skills, including shaping technical direction across teams, building consensus, contributing to governance forums and developing other engineers.

Desirable Experience

• Network APIs and data models, including REST, NETCONF, RESTCONF, JSON, YAML and YANG-based workflows.
• GitHub Enterprise, GitHub Actions, automated policy enforcement, artefact management and developer enablement.
• Azure or AWS networking, enterprise authentication, Zero Trust principles and network observability platforms.
• Architecture governance, technical authority panels, strategic vendor engagement and globally delivered service operations.
• High-availability gaming, digital-media, creative or similarly demanding production environments.

Work Expectations and Measures of Success

This is a staff-level role combining hands-on engineering with technical leadership across a global network environment. You'll build production automation, guide others and remain engaged with operational delivery. The objective is to establish an engineering system the team can operate and improve over time while maintaining secure, resilient and supportable network services.

Success will be demonstrated through:

• Increased coverage of network infrastructure managed through version-controlled automation.
• Reduced configuration drift, manual intervention, operational toil and dependency on individual subject-matter experts.
• Shorter and more predictable change lead times, with improved auditability, validation and rollback confidence.
• Lower change-failure rates, maintained service reliability and faster recovery from configuration-related incidents.
• Sustained adoption of automation standards, modules and delivery practices across the wider engineering team.

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for SIE’s top-tier benefits package that includes paid time off, wellness program and coveted employee discounts for Sony products. This role also may be eligible for a bonus package. Click here to learn more.

Base $109,400 - $164,000 + Bonus & Benefits.