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# Applications Engineer

- **Company:** Hays plc
- **Location:** Cambridge, UK
- **Salary:** £15,600.0 - £18,200.0
- **Contract:** Temporary contract
- **Skills:** Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Automation of Tests, Border Gateway Protocol, Cloud Computing, Data Centers, Software Debugging, Linux, Python (Programming Language), Network Configuration and Change Management, Networking Basics, Network Service, Cisco Nexus Switches, OpenStack, Ansible, Prometheus, Private Cloud Environment, Computer Networking Systems, Nx-os, Openstack Neutron, Grafana, Git, Kubernetes, Restful APIs, Terraform, Open Network Automation Platform, Software Version Control, Cisco
- **Published:** August 19, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/applications-engineer/57254897

## About the Role

* Understanding of OpenStack networking services such as Neutron, OVN and ML2 ; and Data Centre networking principles BGP, EVPN, VXLAN and Leaf-Spine architectures.
 * Strong network engineering background with hands-on experience automating Cisco NX-OS, Arista EOS or equivalent network platforms.
 * Proven Python/Ansible/Terraform experience build repeatable software-defined network automation, developing REST APIs and the application of
 * Infrastructure as Code principles and practices.
 * Experience using Git-based development and CI/CD tools and pipelines.
 * Good Linux skills.

"Nice To Have" Skills and Experience:

 * Experience building automation for large-scale HPC or cloud infrastructure.
 * Net Box or similar source-of-truth/IPAM platforms.
 * Cisco Nexus and/or Arista Cloud Vision Dashboard APIs.
 * Automated network testing frameworks.
 * Prometheus, Grafana and Open Telemetry or similar
 * Automated compliance and configuration validation.

## Description

* Help establish zero-touch provisioning and automated network lifecycle by building reusable automation modules using Python, Ansible, APIs and Terraform tooling to automate the provisioning, configuration and integration of OpenStack networking services Neutron, OVN and ML2 with the network fabric.
 * Develop CI/CD pipelines for network configuration and changes. Implementing automated testing and validation of network changes to ensure changes are version controlled, peer reviewed, tested and auditable.
 * Integrate network automation with source control, IPAM, inventory and other platform systems, developing automated configuration compliance and drift detection.
 * Develop telemetry and observability integrations and dashboards to enable easy debugging, solving and tuning opportunities.
 * Work with Compute, Storage and Kubernetes engineers to automate end-to-end network workflows.


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