Principal Architect, Technology - IPAM, Peering, Caching

Ziply Fiber

2d•$155,000 - $230,000•Remote

About The Position

Internet performance is a competitive differentiator for Ziply Fiber, and the Principal Architect for IPAM, Peering & Caching owns three of the most direct levers: how efficiently we manage our IP address space, how well we position ourselves in the peering ecosystem, and how effectively we cache the content our subscribers want. The Principal Architect will define Ziply Fiber's IP address management architecture, build out our Internet Exchange presence and peering relationships, and design the content caching strategy that reduces transit costs while delivering the fastest possible experience to our subscribers. Reporting to the VP, Network Architecture & Engineering, this role serves as the senior architecture authority for IP address management, peering, transit strategy, Internet Exchange participation, routing security, and content-delivery optimization. This is a senior independent contributor role that leads through technical expertise, architecture governance, standards ownership, and cross-functional influence rather than direct people-management responsibility.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED.
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Network Engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant IP networking, peering, Internet infrastructure, transit, routing, CDN, or architecture experience.
10+ years of IP network engineering at an internet service provider (ISP) or broadband operator with direct ownership of IPAM, peering, and/or content caching programs.
Demonstrated senior independent contributor experience setting technical standards, influencing architecture direction, mentoring engineers, and driving cross-functional architecture decisions without direct people-management responsibility.
Expert-level BGP knowledge: peering policy, community design, route filtering, RPKI/ROA, and traffic engineering at IX scale.
Hands-on IPAM platform experience: NetBox, Infoblox, or equivalent — including IPv4/IPv6 address plan design and integration with network management systems.
Experience developing IPAM governance processes, address allocation standards, reclamation workflows, authoritative data-quality controls, and operational reporting for IPv4 and IPv6 environments.
Deep understanding of CDN caching architectures: embedded cache program requirements for major CDN providers (Netflix, Google, Meta, Akamai, or equivalent) and cache performance optimization.
Strong peering ecosystem knowledge: IX operations, route object management (IRR, ARIN), LOA workflows, and peering economics.
Experience with RPKI/ROA deployment and BGP route origin validation.
Ability to communicate complex peering, routing, IPAM, transit, CDN caching, routing-security, and Internet-performance concepts to executive, technical, operational, vendor, and non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

Experience with traffic engineering tools: RIPE STAT, PeeringDB, or IX traffic analytics platforms.
Familiarity with DNS anycast architecture for resolver infrastructure.
Background in transit cost optimization and peering business case development.
JNCIE-SP, CCIE-SP, or equivalent certification.
Experience presenting peering, transit, caching, Internet-performance, or routing-security strategy to VP-level or executive audiences.

Responsibilities

Own the enterprise IPAM architecture: tooling selection (NetBox, Infoblox, or equivalent), IPv4/IPv6 address plan design, allocation policy, and lifecycle management.
Define IPv4 conservation strategy: efficient allocation, reclamation workflows, and planning for long-term IPv4 exhaustion in a dual-stack and IPv6-only transition context.
Architect IPv6 address plan: PA vs. PI space strategy, allocation hierarchy, and delegation policy for residential, business, and infrastructure use cases.
Own RPKI/ROA deployment: route origin authorization strategy, ROA publication, and BGP route validation policy to protect Ziply's routing security posture.
Maintain authoritative IP registry documentation and integration with provisioning, DNS, and network management systems.
Define and execute Ziply's peering strategy: public and private peering policy, Internet Exchange presence (SIX, PAIX, Equinix IX, or equivalent), and route optimization.
Own transit provider architecture: provider selection, diversity standards, failover policy, and commercial alignment with traffic growth forecasts.
Manage peering relationships: technical onboarding, LOA management, route object maintenance (ARIN, IRR), and ongoing relationship health.
Analyze traffic matrices and peering economics to identify new peering opportunities, optimize routing, and reduce transit spend.
Coordinate with IP Core & Metro architect on BGP policy implementation and route propagation standards.
Design and own Ziply's content caching strategy: placement of embedded caches (Netflix OCA, Google GGC, Meta, Apple, Akamai, or equivalent) within the network to maximize cache hit rates and minimize transit egress.
Define cache node placement criteria: subscriber density, traffic volume thresholds, and co-location requirements for each CDN partner.
Manage CDN partner relationships: technical integration, cache performance monitoring, and capacity scaling agreements.
Analyze CDN traffic reports and cache efficiency metrics to continuously optimize placement and configuration.
Coordinate with Network Planning and IP Core teams to ensure caching infrastructure is reflected in capacity planning models.
Performs other duties as required to support the business and evolving organization.