Job Summary 

• Responsible for driving innovative architectures in line with the latest network technology trends and completeness of architectural changes that meet Product Management and/or Network Systems Engineering requirements 

• Maintains relationships with senior leadership and collaborates with a broad range of stakeholders globally 

• Establishes key performance metrics 

• Drives a culture of innovation, excellence & collaboration with other business functions 

• Provides strategic direction in planning/execution 

Within Equinix, the Network & Infrastructure Engineering (N&IE) team is chartered with: 

• Designing, implementing, deploying and operating the company’s global network infrastructure to deliver the best possible performance and experience to customers and internal users 

• Evaluating next-generation networking technologies and developing an evolution roadmap and target architectures for the network technology stack (spanning optical, routing, switching, software networking) in close collaboration with the Office of the CTO (OCTO) 

• Delivering industry thought leadership and building closer engagement with the developer community in areas relevant to networking 

The N&IE team is looking for a Senior Principal Network Engineer to help design, develop and evaluate next-generation networking capabilities and architectures that will help shape the evolution of Equinix's network and infrastructure stack. We are looking for someone with a passion for developing modern, world-class networking solutions that are scalable, reliable and programmable through software. 

• Provide senior thought leadership and significant technical contributions to help develop target software defined network architectures and recommendations, for the evolution of the network technology stack at Equinix, in close collaboration with stakeholders. The Senior Principal will focus at the outset around designing and developing the network operating system and Layers 2-3 of the network, with Layers 4-7 and cloud to follow 

• Drive cross-stakeholder alignment on network requirements and design trade-offs 

• Help identify technical debt and drive continual improvement by partnering with associate organizations 

• Provide in-depth technical expertise to identify and evaluate innovations in networking and assess their impact on the network infrastructure of future at Equinix 

• Contribute to next-generation networking proof-of-concept projects in close collaboration with partners (e.g. Office of the CTO) to deliver tangible outcomes that guide new technology investments and implementation decisions to evolve the network technology stack 

• Serve as an orchestrator of thinking internally and externally, including in interactions with customers, partners, forums, and open-source/developer communities 

Qualifications 

• Proven years experience

• Bachelor's in Computer Science or Computer Engineering

• Demonstrable, extensive experience in developing next generation networking technologies and architectures implemented in large-scale, critically important deployments. Examples include: a proven background in network infrastructure design, engineering, DevOps/operations, security, tooling, networking products/solutions, etc 

• Top-tier relevant network design or network engineering leadership with software-defined, cloud-native networking technologies and ecosystems is essential with detailed knowledge across layers 2-3 control and network data management planes and ideally networking operating systems as well 

• Substantive knowledge of network (function) disaggregation 

• Passionate about infrastructure automation through software together with solid hands-on experience of network automation 

• Experience of engineering with programming languages (Go, Java, Python, etc.) or API development for network automation is a plus 

• Substantive track record with network programming in C, C++, golang, rust 

• Experience with network configuration tools such as Netconf, yang 

• Experience with open networking technologies and ecosystems, such as Routing Daemons (FRR, Bird, GoBGP), Linux Networking (eBPF, VPP, XDP), and SONiC, or other Linux-based open Network Operating Systems 

• Involvement with modern observability platforms (Prometheus/PromQL, Grafana, gNMI, etc) 

• Experience with network flow export (Netflow, IPFIX, sFlow) and analysis 

• Solid understanding of full networking stack (routing, switching and optical networking), including key protocols & standards, Linux networking and open-source solutions, vendor ecosystems and implementation best practices 

• Excellent writing and verbal communications skills from engineering to executive 

• Excellent collaboration and people skills 

Equinix is an Equal Employment Opportunity and, in the U.S., an Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to unlawful consideration of race, color, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, place of birth, citizenship, sex, pregnancy / childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or domestic partnership status, age, veteran or military status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, political / organizational affiliation, status as a victim or family member of a victim of crime or abuse, or any other status protected by applicable law.