Principal Network Architect

Salary: $80,000 - 112,000 per year Requirements:

• 10+ years of enterprise network engineering experience, including architecture leadership and ownership of standards in large or critical environments.
• Extensive enterprise network design experience across Cisco, Juniper, and Arista, with deep expertise in routing, switching, and segmentation.
• Mastery of ERPS and MSTP ring protocols and high-availability perimeter design, including survivability strategies for critical zones.
• Strong leadership in network automation and zero-touch configuration, including Python and Ansible, and the ability to define standards.
• Experience with monitoring and inventory architecture using NetBox, SolarWinds, PRTG, and Syslog, as well as hardware and firmware lifecycle and vendor management.
• Demonstrated architecture leadership, including standards ownership, cross-functional collaboration, mentoring, and escalation leadership.
• Required certification: Cisco CCNP or Juniper JNCIS.
• Strongly preferred: CCIE or equivalent architect-level credential; network automation (Python/Ansible); ERPS/MSTP design; ITIL 4.
• Familiarity with 802.1X, VLAN segmentation, DNS, and DHCP for secure network access and segmentation.

• Own network architecture standards and the Building Block topology framework for the physical security estate, defining the designs used by the senior team.
• Set perimeter resilience and high-availability strategy, including ERPS/MSTP ring standards and cable-cut survivability requirements for critical zones.
• Establish network security, configuration, and zero-touch configuration automation standards for large-scale deployment.
• Define monitoring, inventory, and observability standards for the network estate.
• Lead network hardware and firmware lifecycle strategy, end-of-life assessments, refresh planning, and vendor selection across Cisco, Juniper, and Arista.
• Act as the final escalation point for complex network incidents and architectural decisions.
• Partner with Infrastructure Engineering and program leadership to align network architecture with shared security boundaries, governance, SLAs, and KPIs.
• Author and approve architecture standards, design documentation, and runbooks, and continually improve resilience and security posture.
• Mentor and develop senior network engineers, establishing best practices and strengthening long-term engineering capability.

• Ansible
• Architect
• Cisco
• Firmware
• Hardware
• ITIL
• Network
• Python
• Security

More:

This is a senior network architecture role supporting a physical security estate. The work focuses on secure, resilient network design, standardized deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management across Cisco, Juniper, and Arista platforms, using tools such as NetBox, SolarWinds, PRTG, and Syslog.

last updated 43 week of 2026