It should come as no surprise that Alaska Airlines is recognized as one of Seattle’s most desirable companies for engineers and technology professionals.  Our technology teams are regularly disrupting the way our guests experience air travel.  We are innovators and creators, striving to continually improve our award-winning technology in ways that make travel as simple, enjoyable and seamless as possible.  We are not content to rest on our successes.  We take pride in the fact that our ideas have become the norm across the industry, and we are always thinking about what's next!  Our culture of collaboration, history of launching industry-leading products, and experienced teams that work at the highest levels of software development help us to pioneer technologies that are creating an airline people love.

Role Summary

The Principal Network Automation Engineer is the subject matter expert in creating automation-centric network design, deployment, and operations process models. It is a transformative role focused on architecting the governance and environment to support its widespread adoption at Alaska Air. As an individual contributor the role defines the strategy for the network automation roadmap, builds out the environment, and then motivates the team in developing the skills to pivot towards an “automation as the rule” network management posture.

Key Duties

• Acts as the subject matter expert in creating automation-centric design, deployment and operations processes

• Defines the long-term strategy for the network automation roadmap that delivers the tools, governance, and processes that result in a stable, reliable, and efficient network platform.

• Influences the decision making in collaboration with network engineering, operations, security teams, for choosing and/or developing tools, self-service portals to support our internal customers and allow them to be self-sufficient.

• Steers the process and the plan for identifying and prioritizing opportunities for automation, including evaluation of team performance, task frequency, and task duration metrics.

• Automates workflows, processes, and configuration of sophisticated enterprise network devices, including routers, switches, firewalls, wireless access points, and all manner of other network infrastructure devices.

• Stays abreast of trends and changing IT networking and automation technologies and mentors other engineers on how to incorporate emerging technology into their day-to-day work.

• Designs, deploys, and supports automation capabilities, including incident remediation, in a 24x7 operation.

Job-Specific Experience, Education & Skills

Required

• 7 years of hands on relevant networking experience, with 3 years of hands-on experience developing automation for network devices.

• Bachelor’s degree with a focus in computer science or related discipline, or an additional two years of relevant training/experience in lieu of this degree.

• Experience with Ansible and Python.

• Thorough knowledge of major networking protocols and technologies including BGP, OSPF, Cisco, and Juniper platforms, load balancers, QoS, NAC, Ethernet, and WiFi.

• Knowledge of code management systems and version controlling.

• Proven track record of project leadership, management, planning and execution.

• Excellent interpersonal, verbal/presentation and written communications skills.

• Team builder/player able to work effectively with others in diverse and inclusive environment.

• Demonstrated ability to be a technology advisor to senior IT management, and to work hand-in-hand with the network operations team, and to collaborate with cross-IT teams to define strategy, standards, and solutions.

• High school diploma or equivalent.

• Must be authorized to work in the U.S.

• Minimum age of 18.

Preferred

• Familiarity and experience with Agile development methodologies and practices.

• 5 years of supporting the technical environment in a large enterprise.

• Azure and/or AWS cloud skills and experience.

Job-Specific Leadership Expectations

Embody our values to own safety, do the right thing, be kind-hearted, deliver performance, and be remarkable.

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement

Where permitted by applicable law, new hires must have received the COVID-19 vaccine. The Company will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities or for a sincerely held religious belief.

Total Rewards

• Competitive total rewards package

• Medical, dental and vision benefits

• 401k match program

• Monthly incentive pay plan

• Annual incentive pay plan

• Generous paid time off

• Travel privileges on Alaska Airlines & Horizon Air

Employment Type Full-Time
FLSA Status Exempt
Regular/Temporary Regular
Requisition ID 2021-6235
Equal Employment Opportunity Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer that is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression), national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, genetic information (including family medical history) or other legally protected characteristics. Qualified applicants with criminal histories will also be considered for employment, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. People of color, women, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, veterans and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. We are an E-Verify Â® employer, where required by law.