Santhosh R

Azure Cloud Network Engineer with 10+ years of enterprise and cloud networking experience, designing scalable, reliable network infrastructure for hybrid cloud and data center environments supporting production network operations. Hands-on expertise architecting Azure hub-spoke and landing zone topologies, VNet peering, NSGs, UDRs, and Azure Route Server to deliver secure, low-latency, high-throughput connectivity across distributed workloads. Strong background in network automation and Infrastructure as Code using Python, Ansible, Terraform, and REST APIs to streamline deployment automation, configuration validation, and network hardware provisioning.

Proven track record in production network operations, live site support, incident management, and root cause analysis (RCA), using network telemetry and observability tooling (SolarWinds, Thousand Eyes, Net Brain, Splunk, Grafana, Wireshark, NetFlow) to drive data-driven decisions and reduce MTTR. Deep routing and switching expertise across BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, and MPLS, with experience in spine-leaf and leaf-spine data center fabrics (Cisco ACI, Arista Cloud Vision, Juniper Contrail), VXLAN overlays, and traffic engineering for scalable network infrastructure.

Experience integrating ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, and SD-WAN (VeloCloud, Meraki, Versa, Viptela) for resilient hybrid cloud connectivity, with a consistent focus on network performance, reliability, and operational excellence. Cross-functional collaborator who has partnered with security, compliance, and infrastructure teams across enterprise, banking, and telecom environments to validate configuration changes and support cross-team live-site operations.

Senior Azure Network Engineer - EchoStar Corporation (DISH Network LLC) - Littleton, CO

(2024-03)

• Architected Azure hub-spoke and landing zone network topology using VNet peering, NSGs, and UDRs, enabling secure, scalable connectivity across distributed business workloads and improving traffic control and inspection.
• Deployed Azure Route Server to enable dynamic BGP route exchange between NVAs and connected VNets, eliminating manual UDR updates and improving route propagation reliability at scale.
• Engineered hybrid connectivity using ExpressRoute and VPN Gateway, integrating VeloCloud and Meraki SD-WAN with Azure to deliver high-availability, low-latency, application-aware routing for hybrid branch-to-cloud traffic.
• Automated Azure networking configuration tasks using Python, Ansible, and least-privilege-scoped Service Principals, reducing manual provisioning effort and improving deployment consistency.
• Engineered Cisco ACI, Arista Cloud Vision, and Juniper Contrail spine-leaf network fabrics, including tenants, application profiles, EPGs, contracts, and VXLAN overlays, supporting scalable data center connectivity and micro-segmentation.
• Monitored and analyzed network telemetry using SolarWinds, Thousand Eyes, NetBrain, Cisco Prime, Wireshark, and SIEM tooling to identify performance patterns, optimize low-latency routing, and eliminate congestion defects.
• Led firewall migration projects (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Azure firewalls) including policy optimization, VPN configuration, and zero-downtime cutovers, integrating with SD-WAN and zero-trust security architectures.
• Designed and deployed SD-WAN networks using Cisco vManage, Versa, and Viptela with centralized policy control, OMP route management, and SLA-based traffic engineering to optimize WAN performance.
• Configured and managed F5 BIG-IP LTM/GTM load balancing infrastructure, including virtual servers, SSL offloading, and iRules, supporting reliable application delivery and DNS traffic management.
• Managed critical live site infrastructure incidents via ServiceNow, driving structured triage, root cause analysis (RCA), and postmortem documentation to aggressively meet MTTR targets.
• Automated firewall change management and network compliance validation using AlgoSec FireFlow, Python, and Ansible, integrating with SOAR workflows to streamline threat response.
• Collaborated cross-functionally with security, compliance, and infrastructure teams to validate network changes, support production live-site operations, and maintain high uptime and SLA adherence across LAN/WAN, cloud, SD-WAN, and data center environments.

Senior Azure Network Engineer - US Bank - Hybrid

(2023-04 - 2024-02)

• Supported enterprise-scale Azure landing zone architecture, implementing VNets, NSGs, and UDRs for secure cloud network segmentation aligned with regulatory and compliance requirements (GLBA, FFIEC, PCI-DSS).
• Managed automated network deployments and cloud infrastructure provisioning using machine-readable definitions via Terraform and Azure service principals, improving deployment repeatability and reducing manual configuration errors.
• Optimized hybrid traffic routing between on-premises and Azure environments using BGP and SD-WAN, improving network performance and reducing latency for cross-site traffic.
• Built network automation solutions using Ansible, Python, REST APIs, Terraform, and Netmiko, integrated with Jenkins CI/CD pipelines to automate configuration deployment, compliance checks, and NSG cleanup in Azure.
• Monitored and analyzed network telemetry using NetBrain, SolarWinds, Cisco Prime, Splunk, ThousandEyes, Riverbed SteelCentral, and LiveNX to identify performance patterns and eliminate latency, jitter, and congestion defects.
• Collaborated with security, risk, and compliance teams to configure Cisco ISE, F5 BIG-IP, and Juniper SRX devices, supporting secure access control, encryption policy enforcement, and regulatory audit readiness.
• Designed and implemented network redundancy and high availability using HSRP, GLBP, MLAG, OSPF, and STP/RSTP/PVST, eliminating single points of failure across wired and wireless infrastructure.
• Led incident response and remediation for network security events using Splunk and Palo Alto Cortex XDR, performing root cause analysis and coordinating cross-team postmortem reviews.
• Conducted network audits, vulnerability assessments, and compliance validation using Nessus, Qualys, SolarWinds, and Wireshark to ensure adherence to PCI-DSS, SOX, and internal banking security standards.

Network Security Engineer - Tech Mahindra - Hyderabad, India

(2015-09 - 2021-11)

• Provided 24/7 Tier-1/Tier-2 network surveillance for Tier-1 telecom clients, maintaining 99.99% network availability through proactive monitoring, fault isolation, and structured incident triage.
• Designed, deployed, and migrated Palo Alto next-generation firewalls (replacing legacy ASA platforms), configuring IPsec/SSL VPNs, NAT, ACLs, and SSL decryption policies for enterprise perimeter security.
• Configured and supported BGP, OSPF, and EIGRP routing across Cisco Nexus, ASR, and Juniper M/MX/T-series platforms, performing route optimization using BGP attributes (MED, AS-PATH, Local Preference).
• Migrated legacy Nexus data center infrastructure to a Cisco ACI spine-leaf fabric, configuring bridge domains, VXLAN overlays, VTEPs, tenants, and application profiles to modernize data center network architecture.
• Managed enterprise IP Address Management (IPAM) and DNS/DHCP services using SolarWinds IPAM and Infoblox, supporting a large-scale WAN/LAN environment with DNSSEC, scopes, and zone delegation.
• Administered Cisco ISE for 802.1X/MAB authentication, Security Group Tags, and centralized policy enforcement across wired and wireless network access.
• Supported F5 and Cisco ACE-to-F5 load balancer migrations, configuring virtual servers, persistence profiles, iRules, and SSL offloading for critical business applications.