Sr Network Architect

1) Customer Network Architecture & End-to-End Design Leadership (Primary)

• Own the end-to-end network architecture for large/complex customer environments (multi-site multi-cloud hybrid regulated).
• Lead architecture discovery: current-state analysis application dependency mapping traffic flows capacity baselining and risk assessment.
• Produce high-quality architecture artifacts including:
  • High-level and low-level designs (HLD/LLD)
  • Reference architectures and patterns
  • Logical/physical diagrams segmentation models routing & switching plans
  • Security and resiliency designs (fault domains HA DR)
  • Bill of materials licensing alignment and cost/risk trade-offs
• Define and validate target-state architecture across:
  • Data center / campus / WAN / branch
  • SD-WAN SASE ZTNA integration
  • Load balancing (L4/L7) DNS/DHCP/IPAM
  • DDI NAC segmentation micro-segmentation (where applicable)
  • IPv4/IPv6 strategy BGP/OSPF/ISIS EVPN/VXLAN (if required)
• Ensure designs align to customer business outcomes (growth M&A compliance cloud adoption user experience cost controls).

Hands-on expectation: Ability to validate designs via config prototypes lab testing packet capture and troubleshooting in real environments.

2) Operational Stabilization & Network Reliability Excellence (Primary)

• Lead the stabilization of network operations by establishing and driving:
  • Operational maturity (standard operating procedures runbooks escalation paths)
  • Incident reduction program using RCA problem management and corrective action plans
  • Change governance with standardized change templates risk scoring and backout plans
  • Configuration standardization (golden configs compliance checks drift detection)
  • Resiliency improvements: elimination of SPOFs HA consistency redundancy validation failover testing
• Create a Network Reliability Plan with measurable targets:
  • Availability / downtime reduction
  • MTTR improvement
  • Change failure rate reduction
  • Alert noise reduction
  • Performance SLOs (latency/jitter/loss) aligned to app needs
• Build Day-2 Operations readiness:
  • Monitoring/telemetry baselines (SNMP/streaming telemetry/syslog/NetFlow)
  • Event correlation and service mapping
  • Capacity forecasting and lifecycle management
• Drive post-implementation validation: performance testing failover testing and operational acceptance criteria.

3) Executive / C-Level Customer Engagement & Technology Leadership (Primary)

• Act as the trusted technical advisor to customer executives (CIO CTO CISO VP Infrastructure/Operations).
• Lead executive-level workshops and steer conversations from technical detail to business outcomes:
  • Risk posture resiliency compliance readiness
  • Cost optimization (CapEx/OpEx) vendor strategy roadmap planning
  • Cloud/network strategy alignment
• Present architectural decisions with clear trade-offs:
  • Option A vs B cost risk complexity time-to-value
  • Explicit assumptions constraints and recommended path
• Own the technical narrative in high-stakes settings:
  • QBRs/EBRs steering committees architecture review boards
  • Critical incident executive briefings (what happened impact mitigation prevention)

4) Delivery Oversight & Technical Governance (Primary)

• Provide architectural governance across the delivery lifecycle:
  • Review designs for correctness security scalability and operational readiness
  • Ensure implementation matches the design intent
  • Lead technical checkpoints: design review pre-change readiness cutover go/no-go
• Define quality bars for:
  • Implementation standards and validation checklists
  • Documentation completeness and operational handover
  • Testing requirements (functional performance failover)
• Partner with PMs and Delivery Leads on:
  • Scope definition sequencing risk and dependency management
  • Technical change windows and cutover strategy

5) Hands-On Technical Troubleshooting & Escalation Leadership (Primary)

• Serve as top-tier escalation for complex issues:
  • Routing instability asymmetry BGP/OSPF issues STP/loop events
  • MTU fragmentation application timeouts TLS handshake impacts
  • Packet loss/jitter root causes across WAN/ISP/cloud edges
  • Firewall policy conflicts NAT issues segmentation misalignment
• Lead bridge calls during major incidents; coordinate across teams/vendors:
  • Network security compute storage application ISP cloud providers
• Use evidence-based troubleshooting:
  • Packet captures flow analytics logs/telemetry traceroutes synthetic tests
• Translate technical root cause into executive-ready summaries.

6) Security Compliance & Risk Integration (Key)

• Ensure security is built into architecture and operations:
  • Segmentation strategy least privilege connectivity patterns
  • Secure management plane MFA/AAA TACACS/RADIUS
  • Logging auditability and compliance controls alignment
• Align designs with common requirements (as applicable):
  • Zero Trust principles PCI/HIPAA/SOX/FedRAMP-like control expectations
  • Secure remote access and third-party connectivity patterns

7) Standardization Automation & Best Practices Enablement

• Drive adoption of network engineering best practices:
  • Architecture standards naming conventions IP schema BGP communities QoS strategy
  • Lifecycle standards: EOL/EOS tracking and refresh planning
• Enable automation and reduce manual work:
  • Infrastructure as Code where practical (Ansible/Terraform)
  • Configuration templates compliance guardrails repeatable build pipelines

8) Mentorship Leadership & Cross-Functional Influence

• Mentor senior engineers and architects; elevate overall architecture quality.
• Lead communities of practice; provide technical training and design patterns.
• Set technical direction across multiple customer programs and internal initiatives.
• Influence stakeholders without direct authority; drive alignment across sales delivery and operations.

Required Hands-On Technical Skills (Typical Expectations)

Networking (deep)

• Routing/switching: BGP OSPF ISIS VRF MPLS basics (where relevant)
• Data center: EVPN/VXLAN (if applicable) leaf-spine designs multicast (optional)
• WAN: SD-WAN design QoS traffic engineering concepts ISP integration
• Services: DDI (DNS/DHCP/IPAM) NTP PKI/certs impacts on network services
• Load balancing and application delivery basics

Network Security (strong)

• Firewalls (policy design NAT zones) segmentation models
• NAC (802.1X) remote access SASE integration patterns
• Logging/telemetry integration for security and operations

Cloud & Hybrid (strong)

• AWS/Azure/GCP networking fundamentals: VPC/VNet TGW/vWAN peering private connectivity
• Hybrid connectivity: VPN/Direct Connect/ExpressRoute routing domains DNS patterns

Operations / Reliability (strong)

• Monitoring/telemetry incident/problem/change management
• Performance engineering: latency/jitter/loss and app experience
• Documentation: runbooks SOPs as-built diagrams acceptance criteria

Customer-Facing / Executive Skills (critical)

• Executive storytelling and decision framing
• Workshops and architecture reviews
• Conflict resolution negotiation risk communication