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Network Automation Engineers

A script that runs is not the same as automation you can trust in production.

Engineers who know networks first and tooling second, so what gets automated is chosen on operational risk rather than on what was easiest to script.

Solution Architect Validated™7-day shortlist on Co-ManagedNetwork-first screening

Automation built by someone who has never carried a change window fails at scale. The scarce profile is the one that understands both production risk and the tooling.

This is the Recruitment specialization for that intersection — Python, Ansible, Terraform and Cisco automation, with both halves assessed separately before submission.

Bought on the same two models as every other Recruitment role: Co-Managed on a monthly rate, or Dedicated for a one-time fee.

Recruitment & Staffing — the first of three service lines. Recruitment gives you the people; Professional & Managed Services does the work for you; Consultancy decides what work should be done.

What that costs you

What bad automation costs at scale.

  • Configuration drift accumulates silently until an incident makes it visible.
  • Change windows stay long because changes are still applied device by device.
  • Automation investment sits underused because nobody can say what should be automated first.
  • The wrong automation hire creates worse exposure than no automation at all — bad automation fails at scale.

Why the usual answer fails

The intersection is genuinely scarce.

Automation engineers from a software background can build the pipeline but underestimate what pushing a change to live production means. Network engineers understand the risk but often lack the tooling depth. The intersection is genuinely scarce, and conventional recruitment screens for neither half properly.

How we work

Both halves, assessed separately.

A practicing Solution Architect assesses both halves: routing and switching fundamentals, change management discipline and production risk judgment on one side; Python, Ansible, Terraform, APIs and Git-based workflow on the other.

The question that separates candidates is not whether they can automate something. It is whether they can explain what they would refuse to automate, and why. A candidate who has no answer to that has not yet worked at production scale.

  • Ask a candidate what they would never automate in a live network, and listen for whether the answer is specific.
  • Ask what happens when a push to 200 devices fails on the twelfth. The good answers involve state validation and rollback, not retries.
  • Ask how they would automate against an estate with forty undocumented exceptions. The honest answer starts with standardization, not with code.

What these engineers deliver

What changes in the estate.

Standardized configuration management

Repeatable workflows for device configuration, policy deployment, access control and routing changes, applied consistently rather than device by device.

Multi-device operations

Validated state before and after change, shorter maintenance windows, and consistent deployment across the estate.

Drift detection and compliance validation

Continuous visibility into whether infrastructure still matches approved standards.

Faster, safer deployment

Branch builds, upgrades and migrations executed from a known-good template rather than assembled by hand.

How it is bought

Co-Managed or Dedicated.

How it worksCommitment
Co-ManagedLumensoft employs, you direct the work7-day shortlist guarantee; free replacement for the life of the project
DedicatedYou hire directly on your own payroll30-day hiring guarantee; 90-day replacement guarantee

Technologies

What we screen against.

PythonAnsibleTerraformREST APIsGit-based change validationCisco IOS / IOS-XECisco Catalyst, Nexus, ACISD-WAN platforms

Who it's for

Enterprise IT

Standardizing an estate that has grown faster than it was documented.

MSPs

Automation capability applied across several client environments.

Regulated organizations

Change control and auditability treated as requirements, not afterthoughts.

Multi-site operators

Consistent deployment across distributed infrastructure.

Typical buyer situations

You are likely in scope if any of these is true:

  • You bought an automation platform and it is underused.
  • Configuration drift is discovered during incidents rather than by monitoring.
  • Change windows are long because changes are still applied device by device.
  • You need someone who can say what should not be automated, and why.

What happens next

  1. 1A 30-minute call establishes what you are automating and how standardized the estate currently is — which determines the seniority the role actually needs.
  2. 2Candidates are interviewed by a practicing Solution Architect against production judgment, not scripting syntax. You receive the written assessment.
  3. 3Engage Co-Managed if the automation programme has an end date, or Dedicated if the capability should stay in-house.

Co-Managed carries the 7-day shortlist guarantee and free replacement for the life of the project. Dedicated carries the 30-day hiring and 90-day replacement guarantees.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions.

How do you screen automation engineers differently?

Both halves are assessed — network fundamentals and production risk judgment, then tooling depth. Candidates who can script but cannot reason about blast radius are not submitted.

Do we need an automation strategy before hiring?

Not necessarily, but it helps. If you are unsure what should be automated first, the Network Automation assessment answers that independently and you hire against the resulting roadmap.

Which engagement model fits automation work?

Co-Managed suits a defined programme with an end date. Dedicated suits building a permanent internal capability.

Do these engineers work alongside our existing team?

Yes, in almost every case — integrating with your existing tooling, change process and approval workflow rather than replacing them.

Can they work in regulated environments?

Yes. Change control, documentation and auditability are part of the screening rather than an afterthought.

What should a network automation engineer be able to do?

Build automation that survives production, which is a different skill from writing a script that runs. The candidates worth hiring can explain what they would refuse to automate and why, describe what happens when a change to two hundred devices fails on the twelfth, and start from standardization rather than from code when an estate carries undocumented exceptions.

Related services

Where this decision leads next.

If the sequencing question is still open — what to automate first, and what to standardize before any of it — the Consultancy assessment answers that independently and you can hire against the resulting roadmap.

Hire for judgment, not just for tooling.

Thirty minutes to define what you are actually trying to automate and what the right profile looks like.