Senior Test Lead

Job Summary

Cisco is looking for an experienced CPS / PCRF / DRA Mobility 4G  Customer Experience Engineer with approximately 10+ years of experience in mobile packet core technologies. 

The ideal candidate will have strong hands-on expertise in mobility platforms, particularly 4G CPS / PCRF / DRA, along with extensive experience supporting large-scale service provider environments. 

This is a customer-facing technical role requiring the engineer to work closely with telecom customers during software upgrades, Release qualification, network expansions, new deployments, migrations, feature introductions, troubleshooting, and production change activities. 

The engineer will act as a trusted technical advisor to customers and will collaborate closely with Cisco engineering, system test, TAC, deployment, and account teams to ensure successful delivery and operation of mission-critical mobile networks. 

Key Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities 

• Customer Engagement & Technical Ownership 

• PCRF / DRA Deployment & Integration 

• Software Upgrade & Migration 

• System Test & Solution Validation 

• Troubleshooting & Problem Resolution 

• Technical Documentation 

Skill Requirements

Cloud-Native & Containerization: Proficiency in managing applications in a cloud-native environment, including Kubernetes (K8s) for orchestration, container runtimes (e.g., Docker/containerd), and micro-services architecture. 

Automation & Orchestration: Ability to automate deployment and lifecycle management using tools like Ansible, Terraform, and Python. Experience with CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab CI, Jenkins) is essential for repeatable, high-quality deployments. 

Networking Fundamentals: Strong knowledge of IP networking, Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and service provider network architectures. 

Troubleshooting & Observability: Skills in diagnosing issues within a distributed, containerized environment using tools for logging, monitoring, and tracing (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack). 

Documentation: Deliver comprehensive technical documentation, including high- and low-level designs, MOPs, and implementation plans, while performing rigorous software risk, security vulnerability, and network health assessments. 

3GPP Standards: Possess deep technical expertise in 3GPP standards, packet core nodes (PCRF, DRA, S-GW, P-GW, etc.), and Cisco hardware platforms including UCS. 

Protocols: Diameter, Gx, Rx, Sy, Gy, S6a/S6d, S9 interfaces and signaling procedures 

Good understanding of 5G Service-Based Architecture (SBA), HTTP/2, REST APIs, 

High Availability (HA) and Geo-Redundancy: Expertise in designing, implementing, and validating High Availability (HA) and Geo-Redundancy for 4G core network functions to ensure service continuity across geographically dispersed data centers. 

Linux Administration / Troubleshooting. Good knowledge of TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/2, SCTP, Diameter, and Kubernetes networking, TCPDump, Packet Analysis, Wireshark 

Experience in analyzing logs, KPIs, alarms, crashes, and customer-reported issues. 

Experience in performance, scalability, stress, endurance, and capacity testing. 

Experience in Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) validation, routing policies, load balancing, failover, overload handling, and redundancy scenarios. 

Good understanding of policy control and charging architecture, PCC rules, subscriber policies, and QoS enforcement. 

Knowledge of High Availability (HA), geo-redundancy,upgrade, rollback, and resiliency testing. 

Other Requirements

Preferred Qualifications: 

Hands-on experience with 4G Packet Core call flows and load testing. 

Proficiency in Cisco products like, Ultra-M, CVIM, CNDP, CPS, vDRA, & UCS. 

Proficiency in databases like MongoDB and Cisco Data Library (CDL). 

Basic knowledge of Agile and DevOps methodologies. Strong interest in applying AI tools to enhance consulting and delivery outcomes. 

Apply knowledge of software programmability, automation, and orchestration to streamline workflows. Stay informed on automation and AI trends to improve delivery efficiency. 

Gather lessons learned and best practices to contribute to the team’s repository of reusable templates and standardized materials. Explain technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences. 

Customer-Facing Skills 

The candidate must have strong customer interaction experience and demonstrate: 

• Excellent verbal and written communication. 

• Ability to explain complex technical issues clearly to both engineering and management audiences. 

• Confidence leading technical discussions with Tier-1 telecom operators. 

• Ability to manage high-pressure production situations. 

• Strong ownership and accountability. 

• Ability to coordinate across geographically distributed teams. 

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills. 

• Ability to prioritize activities during customer-impacting incidents. 

Preferred Experience 

• Approximately 10+ years of telecom / mobile packet core experience. 

• At least 5+ years of hands-on experience with Cisco Policy Suite / mobility platforms is highly desirable. 

• Extensive experience with 4G PCRF / DRA deployments. 

• Experience supporting large Tier-1 or Tier-2 telecom service providers. 

• Hands-on experience performing production software upgrades. 

• Experience executing complex network changes during maintenance windows. 

• Experience troubleshooting live subscriber-impacting issues. 

• Experience working with TAC, engineering, development, and system-test organizations. 

• Experience with large subscriber-scale mobile networks. 

Education 

Bachelor's or Master's degree in: 

• Electronics and Communication Engineering 

• Telecommunications 

• Computer Science 

• Information Technology or equivalent relevant industry experience.