Global WAN Architect

IREN•San Francisco, CA

16h•$190,000 - $260,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Global WAN Architect is the primary owner for global WAN, fibre, and ISP connectivity delivery across current and future AI/HPC infrastructure deployments. The Global WAN Connectivity Lead is responsible for ensuring every site is delivered with sufficient bandwidth capacity, carrier diversity, resiliency, and operational readiness to support large-scale GPU and high-performance compute environments. The role has a singular operational focus: bandwidth delivery and connectivity readiness. You will relentlessly drive ISPs, carriers, dark fibre providers, colocation partners, and telecommunications vendors to accelerate fibre installs, circuit turn-ups, capacity upgrades, route diversity, and remediation activities across rapidly scaling infrastructure deployments. This is an execution-heavy leadership role operating at the intersection of network engineering, carrier operations, deployment coordination, and infrastructure delivery. The successful candidate will own connectivity timelines end-to-end, aggressively escalate blockers, and ensure WAN infrastructure is operationally resilient before customer and infrastructure go-live events. This is not a passive vendor management role. It requires a technically credible operator with deep experience in carrier delivery, WAN infrastructure, fibre deployment, and escalation management within high-availability environments. The role reports to the Associate Director – Network Engineering and partners closely with Infrastructure Deployment, Procurement, Site Operations, Systems Engineering, and external carrier organizations.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in WAN infrastructure, fibre deployment, telecommunications delivery, carrier operations, or large-scale network connectivity roles.
Strong understanding of WAN architecture, fibre infrastructure, carrier provisioning processes, route diversity, colocation networking, and high-capacity connectivity environments.
Proven experience managing ISPs, telecommunications providers, dark fibre operators, or carrier delivery programs within mission-critical infrastructure environments.
Demonstrated ability to aggressively manage escalations, drive provider accountability, and remove delivery blockers under high-pressure timelines.
Experience coordinating connectivity deployments across data centers, AI/HPC environments, enterprise infrastructure, or hyperscale deployments.
Strong operational understanding of resiliency design, failover planning, bandwidth scaling, and high-availability network infrastructure.
Excellent communication, negotiation, and cross-functional stakeholder management skills.
Ability to operate effectively across engineering, procurement, deployment, operations, and vendor organizations.
Strong organizational and execution capabilities with the ability to manage multiple concurrent deployment programs globally.
Highly execution-oriented with strong ownership mentality, urgency, and operational discipline.
Pre-employment screening, including background check and substance testing may be required according to company policies.
Must be able to reliably commute to the work site daily or have plans to relocate before starting work.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with long-haul transport, DWDM, IX connectivity, backbone infrastructure, and carrier interconnection models is highly desirable.
Experience supporting GPU compute, AI infrastructure, HPC, or hyperscale infrastructure environments is preferred.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end WAN, fibre, ISP, and carrier connectivity delivery across all existing and future infrastructure sites.
Maintain accountability for bandwidth readiness, route diversity, resiliency, redundancy, and carrier delivery timelines across deployments.
Develop and maintain WAN connectivity roadmaps aligned to AI/HPC infrastructure growth and customer deployment schedules.
Ensure all sites are provisioned with scalable and resilient connectivity architectures capable of supporting high-density GPU compute environments.
Drive continuous improvement of global connectivity standards, operational readiness, and deployment execution processes.
Act as the primary escalation owner for all ISP, carrier, fibre provider, and telecommunications delivery issues.
Relentlessly drive providers to accelerate installs, upgrades, cross-connects, provisioning, and remediation activities.
Coordinate daily with carriers, dark fibre operators, colocation providers, and field delivery teams to remove deployment blockers.
Escalate aggressively through operational and executive channels to maintain delivery schedules and bandwidth readiness targets.
Build strong working relationships with carrier account teams, service delivery managers, field operations groups, and executive escalation contacts.
Partner with Network Engineering, Infrastructure Deployment, Site Operations, and Procurement teams to align WAN delivery with infrastructure readiness milestones.
Coordinate fibre turn-ups, circuit acceptance, failover testing, route validation, and operational readiness activities.
Maintain detailed visibility into all active connectivity deployments, dependencies, delivery risks, and critical path milestones.
Ensure route diversity and redundancy standards are implemented consistently across all production infrastructure locations.
Support rapid deployment execution across new data center builds, expansion sites, and high-growth AI infrastructure programs.
Identify and mitigate risks related to insufficient bandwidth, delayed carrier delivery, single-provider exposure, or operational fragility.
Drive implementation of diverse fibre paths, backup connectivity strategies, and resilient WAN architectures across all critical infrastructure sites.
Coordinate outage escalations, carrier restoration activities, and operational recovery efforts during connectivity incidents.
Forecast bandwidth growth requirements and ensure carrier capacity planning aligns with future infrastructure scaling demands.
Improve operational resiliency and reduce customer-impacting connectivity risks across the global infrastructure footprint.
Establish standardized processes for WAN deployment tracking, carrier escalation management, connectivity acceptance, and operational reporting.
Lead or co-lead procurement activities for WAN circuits, dark fibre agreements, colocation cross-connects, and capacity contracts in partnership with the Procurement team.
Develop dashboards and reporting mechanisms for install progress, provider performance, SLA adherence, and deployment readiness.
Improve forecasting, long-lead tracking, and operational planning processes for connectivity infrastructure.
Contribute technical input into carrier strategy, connectivity procurement, and infrastructure expansion planning initiatives.
Drive accountability frameworks and governance processes across internal teams and external providers.

Benefits

Highly competitive compensation package that includes base salary, annual performance incentives, and opportunities to build long-term wealth through equity programs.
Total Compensation package may be inclusive of annual incentive bonus, equity (long-term incentive).
Relocation or Living-out-allowance / per diem (as applicable and based on successful candidate circumstances)
100% company paid health insurance premiums(medical, dental, and vision)for employees, 75% company paid coverage for dependents
Company-paid short-term and long-term disability insurance
Voluntary life, critical illness, and accident coverage available
Health Savings Accounts (HSA) – when combined with the High Deductible Health Plan
Employee Assistance Program and wellness resources
401(k) retirement plan with company match
Access to financial planning and legal services
Paid Time Off (PTO) and paid holidays
Internal skills training and advancement pathways
Professional development to support certifications, continuing education, or role related training
Company events and team-building activities