Principal Network Architect

Brightspeed•Charlotte, NC

About The Position

Brightspeed is hiring a principal-level network professional for its Network Architecture team. The role provides technical leadership for network support and device deployment, with a focus on the architecture, strategy, governance, and lifecycle management of IP address management (IPAM), DNS, DHCP, and related network services. The architect works with Network Engineering, Operations, IT, Product, Security, Automation, and other Architecture teams to ensure IP management infrastructure is scalable, resilient, automated, and aligned with business and network growth requirements. The position is responsible for managing IP resources across Brightspeed’s broadband, enterprise, infrastructure, cloud, lab, and internal environments. It develops IPv4 and IPv6 addressing strategies and standards; guides address assignment and provisioning; supports IPv6 adoption and migration; and advises on the interaction of addressing with routing, subscriber services, and customer applications. The role also provides technical leadership on routing reachability and related Internet services, and recommends modernization and lifecycle-management roadmaps for IP management infrastructure.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications, or a related technical discipline; equivalent telecommunications experience may be considered.
10+ years of telecommunications or large-scale network engineering experience, with significant experience in IP networking and network services.
5+ years in a senior network engineering, architecture, or IP management role.
Expert knowledge of IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, including subnetting, CIDR, route aggregation, address allocation, utilization management, and address planning.
Experience with Infoblox or comparable carrier-grade DDI/IPAM platforms.
Experience with BNG, RADIUS, subscriber management, and broadband provisioning architecture.
Experience with IP address management supporting GPON/XGS-PON, DSL, Ethernet, DIA, and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services.
Experience with RPKI, route security, IP reputation, geolocation, and Internet routing governance.

Nice To Haves

Vendor certifications or advanced technical training from Cisco, Juniper, Nokia, Infoblox, BlueCat, or equivalent network technology providers.

Responsibilities

Serve as the subject matter expert for IPAM, DNS, DHCP, IPv4, IPv6, and related network services.
Own the architecture and technical strategy for IPAM, DNS, and DHCP infrastructure, including authoritative and recursive DNS services.
Develop and maintain IPv4 and IPv6 addressing strategy, including allocation, subnetting, aggregation, utilization, reclamation, and capacity planning.
Establish and maintain enterprise-wide IP management standards, policies, naming conventions, and governance practices.
Architect scalable IP resource management solutions for broadband subscriber, enterprise, network infrastructure, management, cloud, lab, and internal environments.
Provide architectural leadership for IPv4 and IPv6 adoption and migration, including dual-stack architecture, address planning, routing considerations, subscriber addressing, and transition strategies.
Optimize use of existing IPv4 address space and identify opportunities for reclamation, consolidation, and more efficient allocation.
Maintain awareness of public IP address resources and support management of ARIN registrations, allocations, assignments, and associated records.
Define architecture and requirements for automating IPAM, DNS, and DHCP activities through APIs, orchestration platforms, OSS/BSS systems, service-order workflows, and network automation tools.
Provide architectural guidance for IP assignment and management associated with BNG/BRAS, broadband subscribers, DIA, enterprise services, network infrastructure, and management networks.
Develop architecture and standards for dynamic and static IP assignment, including customer requirements for public IP addresses and address blocks.
Coordinate with BNG, Access, Metro Ethernet, Core IP, Security, CPE, Cloud, and Enterprise architecture teams to incorporate addressing requirements into end-to-end network designs.
Apply understanding of how IP address management relates to BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, Segment Routing, and VRFs.
Provide technical leadership on issues involving IP routing, address reachability, geolocation, reputation, blacklisting, reverse DNS, and third-party Internet services.
Develop roadmap recommendations for modernization and lifecycle management of IP management infrastructure.
Understand and communicate the relationship between addressing, routing, provisioning, subscriber services, and customer applications.