Network Architect

Stephens•Little Rock, AR

About The Position

The Network Architect is responsible for designing, operating, and continuously improving enterprise network infrastructure. The role provides technical and personnel leadership for the Network Team, ensuring the network environment is secure, scalable, resilient, and aligned with business objectives. It oversees network architecture, operational support, infrastructure lifecycle management, and team development, and serves as the primary network liaison to IT management and business partners. The position balances strategic planning with hands-on technical engagement, including guidance during critical incidents, infrastructure upgrades, and enterprise technology initiatives. The role leads network architecture and strategic planning, daily network operations and engineering, team leadership, infrastructure governance and documentation, and support for remote-office infrastructure across data centers, corporate offices, and remote locations. It has three direct reports.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
10+ years of related experience and/or training.
Deep understanding of enterprise routing and switching concepts.
Strong hands-on experience with Juniper switches, routers, and enterprise networking platforms.
Experience designing, implementing, and supporting Juniper-based network infrastructures.
Practical expertise with EVPN/VXLAN, spine-leaf, and modern fabric networking architectures.
Experience with data center networking, WAN technologies, SD-WAN, and high-availability network designs.
Strong understanding of network security, segmentation, resiliency, and disaster recovery principles.
Experience supporting geographically distributed enterprise environments.

Nice To Haves

Substantial experience with Juniper networking solutions.
Routing/switching vendor certifications such as JNCIS or JNCI-MistAI.
Fiber testing and/or data center infrastructure certifications.

Responsibilities

Develop, maintain, and communicate the organization's network architecture vision and roadmap.
Design and implement scalable, secure, and highly available network solutions that support business growth and operational requirements.
Translate business requirements into technical network architecture and infrastructure strategies.
Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends and recommend enhancements to reliability, performance, and security.
Develop short-, medium-, and long-term network infrastructure plans and technology roadmaps.
Oversee daily network operations across data centers, corporate offices, and remote locations.
Lead troubleshooting for complex network incidents and production outages, and serve as the highest level of escalation for critical network issues and emergencies.
Ensure network hardware, software, and firmware are maintained and upgraded.
Oversee proactive monitoring, alerting, and operational visibility across network platforms.
Conduct technical evaluations of network technologies, upgrades, and infrastructure improvements.
Lead, mentor, and develop Network Team personnel; establish priorities, allocate workloads, and manage project assignments.
Maintain performance documentation and provide coaching to promote professional growth and technical excellence.
Foster accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
Ensure team adherence to processes, standards, and change management procedures.
Develop and maintain network standards, policies, procedures, and operational best practices.
Maintain accurate and current network documentation, including topology diagrams, equipment inventories, and site infrastructure layouts.
Oversee asset management and network lifecycle planning.
Ensure compliance with organizational governance, security standards, and operational requirements.
Maintain visibility into remote-office infrastructure additions, modifications, and decommissioning activities.
Collaborate with telecommunications and technology teams to support remote-office initiatives.
Keep remote-office infrastructure documentation and inventories current and accurate.