Lead Network / IPv6 Architect

Job Description

IPv6 & GCP
Network Transformation

Lead Network / IPv6 Architect

Purpose : Role definition for enterprise IPv6 architecture, dual-stack design, hybrid networking, DNS, IPAM, governance, and architecture assurance.

1. Lead Network / IPv6 Architect

Enterprise architecture lead for global IPv6, dual-stack, hybrid network, DNS and IPAM design

Engagement

Enterprise IPv6 Architecture and GCP Dual-Stack Remediation

Role type

Core delivery role

Primary focus

Architecture and hands-on delivery within the assigned domain

Reporting / collaboration

Works closely with the GCP Network Engineer, enterprise network, cloud, and security teams, application owners, operations teams, and architecture governance.

Role Summary

The Lead Network / IPv6 Architect will lead the discovery and definition of the organization's global IPv6 and dual-stack network architecture across GCP, AWS, colocation facilities, enterprise/client connectivity, shared services, and future regions. The role owns the enterprise addressing, routing, DNS, IPAM, security-pattern, coexistence, governance, and architecture decision framework. This is a hands-on architecture role that must translate business growth needs into implementable standards and guide the GCP team through remediation decisions.

Expected Outcomes

• Documented and validated current-state network and IPv4 capacity assessment.
• Approved global IPv6 architecture, prefix hierarchy, allocation standard, routing model, DNS model, security patterns, and governance approach.
• Clear decision framework for in-place conversion, parallel build, or hybrid remediation.
• Approved coexistence patterns for IPv4-only applications, appliances, managed services, and client dependencies.
• Reusable IPv6-ready reference patterns for AWS and colocation environments.
• Architecture assurance through pilot, migration waves, operationalization, and final handoff.

Key Responsibilities

• Discovery and assessment: Lead workshops with network, cloud, security, platform, application, DNS, observability, and operations stakeholders. Validate topology, address usage, dependencies, connectivity, controls, and operational readiness.
• Global IPv6 architecture: Define enterprise IPv6 principles, prefix acquisition/ownership options, hierarchical allocation, subnet sizing, summarization boundaries, growth reserves, naming/tagging, and exception governance.
• Routing and connectivity: Define global routing, route advertisement and aggregation, failure-domain, asymmetric-routing avoidance, route-leak prevention, traffic-engineering, enterprise/client connectivity, hybrid-cloud, internet, third-party, and shared-service patterns.
• DNS and IPAM: Own A/AAAA, recursive/authoritative, split-horizon, reverse DNS, service-discovery and migration principles; define the source of truth and lifecycle processes for address allocation, reservation, reclamation, audit, and exceptions.
• Dual-stack and coexistence: Define approved patterns for IPv6-capable and IPv4-only workloads, including temporary proxy/translation or segmented IPv4 paths, with explicit technical-debt ownership and retirement criteria.
• Security architecture: Define IPv6 segmentation, policy parity, ingress/egress, anti-spoofing, administrative access, logging, telemetry, vulnerability management, and operational visibility in collaboration with security stakeholders.
• GCP architecture assurance: Partner with the GCP Network Engineer to review target HLD/LLD, validate alignment to global standards, and decide which constructs can be converted in place versus replaced or built in parallel.
• AWS and colocation enablement: Produce reference architectures, guardrails, design-review checkpoints, and acceptance criteria for the AWS environment and colocation facilities; implementation remains customer-led unless separately added.
• Migration and governance: Guide pilot selection, migration-wave strategy, architecture decisions, risks, rollback principles, acceptance criteria, standards, runbooks, knowledge transfer, and residual-risk backlog.
• Quality assurance: Perform or coordinate peer review of architecture and low-level design outputs and ensure decisions, assumptions, exceptions, and dependencies are traceable.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• 10+ years of enterprise network architecture or engineering experience, including complex hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
• Demonstrated hands-on design experience with IPv6 and IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack programs, preferably including enterprise migration or remediation.
• Deep knowledge of IPv6 addressing, prefix planning, subnetting, summarization, BGP, routing policy, DNS, IPAM, load balancing, firewalls, VPN, private connectivity, and network observability.
• Experience designing connectivity across public cloud, colocation/data-center, enterprise, client/partner, internet, and shared-service environments.
• Ability to assess product/version and application dependency compatibility and convert findings into ready, remediation-required, and IPv4-only categories.
• Ability to produce executive-level architecture recommendations and detailed technical standards, diagrams, decision records, risks, and implementation patterns.
• Strong workshop facilitation, technical leadership, documentation, stakeholder communication, and knowledge-transfer skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with GCP networking and familiarity with AWS networking and physical colocation/data-center design.
• Relevant professional certification such as CCNP Enterprise, CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code, policy-as-code, automated network validation, and regulated healthcare environments.