Senior Network Operation Specialist at EXL South Africa

Job Description

• We are seeking an experienced Network Manager to lead the design, development, and deployment of next-generation network solutions. This role requires strong expertise in infrastructure automation, SDWAN technologies, and secure cloud networking frameworks such as SASE and ZTNA.
• The ideal candidate will integrate networking workflows into DevOps practices while collaborating across engineering, security, and business team

Responsibilities

• Network Automation & Orchestration: Develop low-level automation using Ansible, Terraform, Python, and Puppet to configure routers, switches, firewalls (Cisco, Arista, Palo Alto), and enforce policy-driven changes across hybrid environments.
• Core Network Engineering: Hands-on expertise in Layer 2/3 protocols (MPLS, BGP, OSPF, VRRP, STP, VLANs) and physical/logical infrastructure design for large-scale, multi-region enterprise networks.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Implement version-controlled, repeatable network provisioning using Terraform modules, YAML-based configs, and Git workflows to manage complete network lifecycles.
• Cloud Network Provisioning: Automate and manage cloud-native networking (VPCs, subnets, route tables, VPNs, Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, firewalls, NACLs, Security Groups) in AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• CI/CD for Network Ops: Integrate network changes into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI) for test-driven deployments with linting, validation, rollback, and minimal operational downtime.
• Internet & Perimeter Security: Configure and manage internet-edge security layers (firewall policies, DDoS protection, IPS/IDS, web proxies) and ensure secure ingress/egress traffic flows.
• Monitoring, Telemetry & Auto-Remediation: Deploy NMS/telemetry tools (SolarWinds, Prometheus, InfluxDB) and write custom scripts for real-time alerting, anomaly detection, and event-driven remediation.
• Troubleshooting & Packet Analysis: Perform low-level debugging using packet captures (Wireshark/tcpdump), flow telemetry, syslog, and routing table state analysis to resolve incidents in multi-vendor networks.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & Documentation: Collaborate with CloudOps, DevOps, Security, and platform teams to align network architecture with application needs. Maintain up-to-date HLD/LLD, runbooks, topology maps, and compliance records.
• Innovation & Optimization: Evaluate SDN, SASE, Zero Trust, and AI-based networking solutions to continuously improve agility, reliability, and performance of the network ecosystem.

Qualifications

• 10 years plus experience
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• Proven experience with network automation tools (Ansible, Terraform, Python).
• Expertise in SDWAN, SASE, and ZTNA frameworks.
• Experience with Kubernetes networking (CNI plugins) and microservices architecture.
• Knowledge of Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) best practices.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Preferred: Technical certifications in DevOps, SDWAN, SASE, or related emerging technologies.