Principal Network Engineer, Cloud Networking

NetApp is seeking a hands-on Principal Engineer to lead cloud networking architecture and reliability for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes (GCNV), a Google first-party service built on NetApp virtual storage and cloud platform technologies. This is a high-impact role focused on preventing repeat network-driven customer impact while strengthening engineering depth across the SRE organization.

You will own technical direction for network infrastructure and hardening across regions and deployment stamps, including fabric design, routing and subnet integrity, reachability, connectivity, and topology-aware automation. You will also serve as a senior escalation point for critical incidents, lead operational readiness reviews, and partner across NetApp and Google to deliver secure, resilient cloud services at scale.

As a Principal Engineer, your responsibilities will include:

• Lead network architecture, fabric design, and hardening across multi-region cloud environments, deployment stamps, subnets, and routing domains.
• Design and implement network and fabric changes, connectivity guardrails, reachability audits, and topology-aware placement and routing automation.
• Set technical direction and architecture standards for SRE and cloud platform teams, and lead design and operational readiness reviews for new regions, stamps, and releases.
• Act as a senior escalation point during P0/P1 incidents; lead network-focused troubleshooting and drive root-cause analyses through durable corrective actions.
• Partner with Product Engineering, Support, Google, and other stakeholders to resolve cross-team dependencies and improve service reliability.
• Reduce operational toil and alert noise through automation, stronger observability, and preventive engineering controls.
• Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar through code, architecture, and design reviews.
• Contribute to roadmap and capacity planning, and represent the organization in technical forums with partners and customers.

• A minimum of 12 years of applicable professional experience in network engineering, cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, site reliability engineering, or a related field is required.
• Deep hands-on experience designing and operating large-scale cloud or data center networks, including routing, subnet architecture, network fabrics, reachability, and multi-region connectivity.
• Experience supporting production services on Google Cloud, AWS, or Microsoft Azure; Google Cloud experience is strongly preferred.
• Proficiency with network automation and infrastructure-as-code using technologies such as Python, Go, Terraform, Ansible, Bash, Kubernetes, or CI/CD pipelines.
• Demonstrated experience leading response to critical production incidents, performing root-cause analysis, and implementing preventive corrective actions.
• Strong understanding of network security and hardening, observability, service reliability, failure domains, and operational readiness.
• Experience setting architecture direction and influencing multiple engineering teams without direct authority.
• Ability to communicate complex technical decisions clearly to engineering teams, partners, customers, and senior stakeholders., * Experience with BGP, VXLAN/EVPN, software-defined networking, Kubernetes/container networking, or cloud interconnect technologies.
• Experience building or operating storage, infrastructure, or other highly available services across multiple regions.
• Experience working with hyperscaler engineering teams or delivering a first-party cloud service.
• Experience improving service placement, routing, capacity, or network topology through automation and data-driven guardrails.

Education

A bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or a related field is a plus, but not required. Applicable education, certifications, and/or technical training are also valued. Additional relevant professional experience will be equally considered.

The target base salary range for this position is $225,000-$270,000 (Raleigh, NC Range) The salary offered will be determined by the candidate’s location, qualifications, experience, and education and may be outside of this range. Final compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards, reflecting a variety of factors, and include a comprehensive benefits package. This may cover Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement or Pension Plans, Paid Time Off (PTO), various Leave options, Performance-Based Incentives, employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stocks (RSU’s), with all offerings subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and company policies. Benefits may vary by country and region, and further details will be provided as part of the recruitment process.