Principal Architect, Technology - Infrastructure

Ziply Fiber

2d•$155,000 - $230,000•Remote

About The Position

Ziply Fiber's network runs on infrastructure — the compute, hypervisors, databases, containers, and bare metal platforms that power everything from network functions and OSS/BSS systems to subscriber-facing services. The Principal Architect for Infrastructure is the technical authority for this entire stack. This role will lead the VMware-to-OpenStack migration, define our containerization and orchestration strategy, architect redundant and geographically diverse compute environments, and ensure every platform we run meets carrier-grade reliability standards. This is a hands-on senior independent contributor role. You will set the standards, own the architecture, and work directly with engineering teams to design and deliver infrastructure that is scalable, automated, and built for operational independence.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED.
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Telecommunications, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and directly relevant infrastructure architecture experience.
10+ years of infrastructure engineering with deep expertise in virtualization, private cloud, and data center operations in a network operator or telco environment.
Demonstrated senior independent contributor experience setting infrastructure architecture standards, influencing technical direction, mentoring engineers, and driving cross-functional architecture decisions without direct people-management responsibility.
Expert-level OpenStack knowledge: Nova, Neutron, Cinder, Glance, Keystone — architecture, deployment, and operations at production scale.
Hands-on Kubernetes experience: production cluster design, CNI/CSI selection, RBAC, and multi-cluster management.
Strong PostgreSQL expertise: HA architecture, replication, performance tuning, and operational management in production environments.
Proven VMware → OpenStack (or equivalent hypervisor migration) program delivery: workload assessment, migration tooling, and zero-impact cutover execution.
Experience with bare metal provisioning and lifecycle management: Ironic, MAAS, or equivalent.
Solid redundancy and diversity planning background: failure domain analysis, RTO/RPO definition, and DR program execution.
Infrastructure-as-code proficiency: Terraform, Ansible, or equivalent in a network or telecom production environment.
Ability to work independently and apply sound judgment and reasoning skills to a variety of situations.
Ability to multi-task and collaborate effectively with other personnel to meet deadlines.
Strong verbal and written communication, attention to detail, and organizational skills.
Ability to work within critical deadlines.
Ability to adjust to rapidly changing priorities and schedules.
Ability to provide excellent customer service.
Senior technical leadership skills with the ability to influence engineering direction, mentor technical teams, establish standards, and build alignment without direct people-management authority.
Strong analytical and systems-thinking skills with the ability to balance reliability, scalability, security, operational independence, cost, and delivery risk.
Executive presence and communication skills to explain complex infrastructure architecture decisions clearly and credibly to Technology, Operations, Finance, Security, vendors, and senior leadership.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US for any employer. Sponsorship is not available for this position.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Proxmox VE in production ISP or data center environments.
Familiarity with DPDK, SR-IOV, or high-performance networking in virtualized environments for network function hosting.
Experience with ETSI NFV/MANO frameworks and virtual network function (VNF) or cloud-native network function (CNF) onboarding.
Prior work in co-location data center operations: power, cooling, cross-connect standards, and colo vendor management.

Responsibilities

Own the hypervisor and private cloud strategy: OpenStack/KVM architecture, cluster topology, and operational model — including the full migration program from VMware.
Define Proxmox deployment architecture for environments requiring lightweight, flexible virtualization: cluster design, storage integration, and operational standards.
Architect bare metal server infrastructure: provisioning automation, lifecycle management, firmware governance, and integration with virtualization and container platforms.
Lead the VMware → OpenStack migration program: workload inventory and assessment, migration sequencing, dependency mapping, and zero-impact cutover execution.
Define and own the Kubernetes platform architecture: cluster design, networking (CNI), storage (CSI), RBAC, and multi-cluster strategy across on-premise and cloud environments.
Establish Docker image lifecycle governance: base image standards, registry management, vulnerability scanning, and build pipeline integration.
Design CI/CD pipeline for infrastructure and network function delivery: GitOps workflows, automated testing, and rollout orchestration using ArgoCD, Flux, or equivalent.
Own the database platform architecture: PostgreSQL deployment patterns, high-availability configuration (Patroni, pgBouncer, or equivalent), replication, backup, and disaster recovery.
Define storage architecture across tiers: block (Ceph, iSCSI), object (S3-compatible), and file storage — with backup, replication, and RPO/RTO targets aligned to service criticality.
Establish database governance standards: schema versioning, migration tooling, performance monitoring, and operational runbooks.
Define hybrid and multi-cloud integration patterns: workload placement strategy, cloud bursting, and private/public interconnect architecture (AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, or equivalent).
Establish infrastructure-as-code standards across on-premise and cloud environments: Terraform, Ansible, or equivalent — with version control, peer review, and automated compliance checks.
Own redundancy and geographic diversity planning for all infrastructure tiers: compute clusters, database platforms, storage, and network connectivity — with documented failure domain analysis and RTO/RPO targets for every critical system.
Design active-active and active-passive architectures for carrier-grade availability: load balancing, failover automation, and health monitoring across sites.
Define and test disaster recovery playbooks: regular DR exercises, runbook validation, and post-exercise gap remediation.
Performs other duties as required to support the business and evolving organization.