At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and enhance network automation for a cutting-edge datacentre.
- Company: Join a tech-led systematic hedge fund with a focus on innovation.
- Benefits: Market-leading compensation, excellent benefits, and a tech-first environment.
- Other info: Opportunity to work in a dynamic, engineering-led environment with career growth.
- Why this job: Tackle complex challenges and make a real impact in high-performance infrastructure.
- Qualifications: Advanced Python skills and experience with network automation tools required.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
A leading, technology-driven systematic hedge fund is seeking a Senior Network Automation Engineer to help scale and modernise a cutting-edge on-premise datacentre and research platform. This is a highly technical role focused on building the automation, tooling, and guardrails that power safe, repeatable outcomes across high-performance infrastructure. You’ll operate at the intersection of networking and software engineering, playing a key role in transforming network intent into production-grade automation within a fast-moving, engineering-led environment.
The Role
You will design and evolve the network automation ecosystem that underpins the firm’s datacentre fabrics, enabling scalable, resilient infrastructure through code-driven practices. Key responsibilities include:
- Architecting and enhancing the network automation framework, including source of truth, templating, validation, and change control
- Building idempotent automation to provision and operate datacentre networks at scale
- Capturing network intent as code with strong peer review and quality controls
- Integrating with vendor APIs and SDKs (e.g. Arista EOS) to streamline operations
- Instrumenting networks with telemetry, alerting, and SLO-driven remediation
- Partnering with network and platform engineers to convert design into automated workflows
- Delivering incremental, well-tested improvements that prioritise safety and reliability
- Championing NetDevOps best practices and knowledge sharing across the team
- Monitoring industry trends and identifying opportunities for practical adoption
What We’re Looking For
- Advanced Python skills with experience building production-grade tools and services
- Go experience preferred for high-performance tooling
- Strong Ansible expertise and familiarity with structured data models (YAML/JSON)
- Solid Git workflows including branching, pull requests, and versioning
- Observability experience (Prometheus, Grafana, logging, tracing)
- Familiarity with source-of-truth platforms such as NetBox or Nautobot
- Strong Linux networking knowledge (DNS, DHCP, iptables) and Bash scripting
- Experience with workflow orchestration tools (e.g. Temporal)
- Network validation and testing frameworks such as pyATS or NAPALM
- Containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Secure configuration and secrets management (Vault, PKI best practices)
- Exposure to datacentre fabrics, QoS, and high-performance networking is advantageous
Why Join?
- Work within a technology-first hedge fund that invests heavily in infrastructure
- Direct impact on a rapidly expanding, high-performance research and trading platform
- Complex technical challenges rarely found outside elite trading environments
- Market-leading compensation and benefits
If you enjoy solving infrastructure problems through software and want to operate in a truly engineering-led environment, we’d welcome a confidential conversation.
Senior Network Automation Engineer employer: Stanford Black Limited
Stanford Black Limited is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration within the AWS Cloud Engineering team in London. Employees benefit from extensive growth opportunities, hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies, and a commitment to operational excellence, making it a rewarding environment for those passionate about cloud networking and automation.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Network Automation Engineer
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Stanford Black Limited or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Stanford Black Limited.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Stanford Black Limited.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Stanford Black Limited that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Network Automation Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Stanford Black Limited.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Stanford Black Limited and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Stanford Black Limited
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Stanford Black Limited uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
