Networking Subject Matter Expert – OpenShift Virtualization

Location: Remote
Contract Duration: 320 Hours

Position Overview

We are seeking a Networking Subject Matter Expert with strong hands-on experience in OpenShift Virtualization and OpenShift/Kubernetes networking. The ideal candidate will have a strong networking foundation combined with practical experience in virtualization, Linux networking, automation, and enterprise infrastructure environments.

Cisco networking experience is preferred, while experience with other multi-vendor networking platforms is also welcome.

Key Responsibilities & Qualifications

Networking Fundamentals

• Hands-on L2/L3 network engineering, including VLANs, routing, and physical switch integration.

• Experience with BGP, OSPF, static routing, and route redistribution.

• Strong Linux networking knowledge, including bridges, bonds (LACP/active-backup), namespaces, iptables/nftables, and policy-based routing.

• Hands-on packet-path troubleshooting using tcpdump, Wireshark, and OVS flow tracing.

• Experience with SR-IOV and hardware offload, including VF/PF configuration, IOMMU, and BIOS/firmware prerequisites for NIC passthrough.

• Knowledge of network security design, including firewall zones, east-west/north-south policies, and micro-segmentation.

• Understanding of spine-leaf / Clos fabric design principles.

• Experience with VXLAN overlay networking.

• Knowledge of Data Center Interconnect (DCI), including L2/L3 connectivity across sites.

• Understanding of Top-of-Rack (ToR) / End-of-Row (EoR) switch architecture.

OpenShift & Kubernetes Networking

• Strong hands-on experience with OpenShift/Kubernetes networking, including OpenShift Virtualization.

• Experience with OVN-Kubernetes architecture, including NB/SB databases, logical switches/routers, and overlay vs. localnet networking.

• Experience with UDN/CUDN for tenant network isolation.

• Knowledge of EVPN for L2/L3 extension across physical and virtual boundaries.

• Experience with cross-cluster connectivity and multi-cluster service/pod reachability.

• Hands-on experience with Multus CNI and NetworkAttachmentDefinitions for multi-homed pod/VM networking.

• Experience with NMState Operator and declarative host networking, including NNCP, bonds, bridges, VLANs, and rollback.

• Experience with SR-IOV Network Operator, VF allocation, device plugins, and DPDK/latency-sensitive workloads.

• Knowledge of MetalLB, including BGP/L2, NetworkPolicy/AdminNetworkPolicy, and network observability.

• Hands-on experience with VM networking, including bridge vs. masquerade binding, hot-plug/multi-NIC, and secondary network attachments.

• Experience with live migration architecture, including VLAN/subnet design, bandwidth sizing, MTU, and policy tuning.

• Knowledge of IPAM/MAC management, including cloud-init NetworkData, secondary-network DHCP, and KubeMacPool.

• Experience with VMware-to-OpenShift migration, including vSphere DSwitch/NSX, NAD/localnet, and IP/MAC preservation using MTV.

• Strong end-to-end troubleshooting experience across virtio NIC, veth, bridge/OVS, overlay, and physical uplink layers.

Professional Qualifications

• Experience delivering consulting engagements in regulated enterprise environments such as financial services, healthcare, or government.

• Strong documentation and knowledge transfer skills, including architecture decision records, runbooks, and operational playbooks.

• Ability to collaborate effectively across network engineering, platform/infrastructure, security, and application development teams.

• Cisco networking experience is preferred; broader multi-vendor networking experience is welcome.

• Automation experience is a plus.

Preferred Certifications

• RHCE

• EX280

• DO316

• DO282

• CCNA / CCNP / CCIE

• CCNP Enterprise / Data Center

• CKA