Architect – Network Automation

CBTS serves enterprise and midmarket clients in all industries across the United States and Canada. CBTS combines deep technical expertise with a full suite of flexible technology solutions--including Application Modernization, Managed Hybrid Cloud, Cybersecurity, Unified Communications, and Infrastructure solutions. From developing and deploying modern applications and the secure, scalable platforms on which they run, to managing, monitoring, and optimizing their operations, CBTS delivers comprehensive technology solutions for its clients' transformative business initiatives. For more information, please visit www.cbts.com.

We are seeking a Senior Network Automation Architect — a software engineer first, with deep domain expertise in network infrastructure.

This is not a traditional network engineering role with scripting. This position owns the design, development, and delivery of production‑grade automation software that operates across a large‑scale, multi‑vendor network environment for a Managed Service Provider (MSP).

You will define the developer experience for the network organization: setting coding standards, designing extensible software architectures, building reusable Python libraries and internal platforms, implementing CI/CD pipelines, and mentoring engineers in modern software development practices.

You think in design patterns, clean abstractions, testability, and long‑term maintainability — and you apply that mindset to infrastructure automation.

What You’ll Own

Software Architecture & Development

• Architect and develop production-quality Python applications, libraries, and CLI tools for network automation, orchestration, and observability.
• Design clean, extensible architectures using patterns such as factory, strategy, adapter, and plugin-based systems to abstract vendor differences.
• Build and maintain API integrations (REST, GraphQL, gRPC, JSON‑RPC) with platforms including:
• • Arista VeloCloud
  • Palo Alto Prisma SD‑WAN
  • Fortinet SD‑WAN
  • Cisco Meraki
  • Juniper Mist
  • Traditional network OS platforms (IOS‑XE, NX‑OS, JunOS)
• Develop internal Python packages with:
• • Proper packaging (pyproject.toml)
  • Semantic versioning
  • Dependency management
  • Internal PyPI distribution
• Write comprehensive test suites:
• • Unit tests (pytest)
  • Integration tests
  • Network validation tests using mocks and fixtures
• Shape Git strategies and repository structure.
• Leverage AI/LLM developer tooling responsibly to improve productivity and code quality.

Developer Experience & Engineering Standards

• Author and maintain coding standards, architectural decision records (ADRs), and development guidelines.
• Establish and enforce code quality tooling:
• • PEP8
  • Ruff / Pylint
  • Black
  • MyPy
  • Pre‑commit hooks
• Design and implement CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins) for:
• • Linting
  • Testing
  • Security scanning
  • Build and release automation
• Define Git workflows:
• • Branching strategies
  • Pull request standards
  • Code review expectations
  • Release management
• Create project templates, scaffolding, and cookiecutters to standardize automation development.

Innovation, Automation & Technical Leadership

• Identify manual workflows and operational pain points, then design automation solutio