principal network engineer.

This role is a pivotal position within the team, accountable for providing technical and strategic support in the design, architecture, and development of automation solutions to drive efficient delivery of complex network and data projects. The Principal Engineer will lead the configuration of automation and orchestration platforms and play a key role in guiding the team on best practices. You’ll mentor fellow engineers, contribute to strategic planning for innovation, and be a crucial collaborator with DevOps, security, and executive engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership & Automation: Drive automation and orchestration for complex project delivery, leading configuration and best practices for automation platforms to streamline network management and project outcomes.
• Design & Code Quality: Provide technical support for code design, architecture, and implementation while driving code reviews, design assessments, and test cases to ensure a high standard of code quality and performance.
• Mentorship & Culture Building: Mentor and guide engineers, instilling a culture of continuous learning, growth, and team collaboration. Encourage technical excellence and proactive problem-solving across the team.
• Strategic Planning & Vision: Support long-term innovation planning, collaborating closely with leadership to shape the future direction of automation, infrastructure, and data initiatives.
• Collaboration with Key Stakeholders: Facilitate productive cross-functional collaboration with DevOps, security, and executive engineering teams, representing the team in meetings and supporting seamless communication of technical requirements.

Core Skills & Qualifications you need for the role:

• Advanced Software Engineering: Proficiency in Python, Linux, Docker, and Kubernetes (Microservices), with experience in SSDLC, TDD, and BDD.
• Network Engineering & Automation: Expertise in automation and orchestration tools like Jenkins, Bitbucket, Ansible, and Cisco DevNet, with deep knowledge of network hardware including Cisco routers/switches and firewalls (Juniper, Checkpoint, VMWare NSX).
• Data-Driven Insight & Visualization: Competence with data curation, analysis, and visualisation tools (Splunk, Elastic Search, Kibana, Power BI), and familiarity with schema design and data manipulation.
• Infrastructure & DevOps Best Practices: Solid experience with DevOps/SRE practices and Agile methodologies, emphasising CI/CD, continuous improvement, and operational resilience.
• Comprehensive Networking Knowledge: Familiarity with knowledge graph concepts and Microsoft Graph API, plus experience with tools for network monitoring, analysis, and real-time incident response.

Additional Desirable Skills

• Programming & Infrastructure Tools: Expertise in Terraform, MongoDB, SQL, Kafka, Elastic Search, Splunk, and HashiCorp tools, with strong operational knowledge of network switching, routing, and firewall management.
• Data Management: Experience with data collection, schema binding, and data manipulation to support analytical functions and data-driven decision-making.

Key Soft Skills

• Strategic Communicator: Skilled at conveying technical information clearly to business stakeholders and non-technical colleagues.
• Problem Solving & Root Cause Analysis: Proven track record in troubleshooting complex issues, leading problem management, and conducting thorough root cause analysis for automation-related incidents.
• Documentation & Workshop Facilitation: Experienced in creating high-level and detailed design documents, organising technical workshops, and using tools like Atlassian for design documentation.

At Randstad, we are passionate about providing equal employment opportunities and embracing diversity to the benefit of all. We actively encourage applications from any background.