Senior Network Architect

Unisys

About The Position

What success looks like in this role: 1) Customer Network Architecture & End-to-End Design Leadership (Primary) Own and lead end-to-end network architecture for large, complex customer environments, including multi-site, hybrid, multi-cloud, and regulated ecosystems. Drive architecture discovery through comprehensive current-state assessments, application dependency mapping, traffic flow analysis, capacity baselining, and risk evaluation. Develop high-quality architectural deliverables, including: High-Level and Low-Level Designs (HLD/LLD) Reference architectures and reusable design patterns Logical and physical diagrams Segmentation strategies and routing/switching frameworks Security and resiliency architectures (fault domains, high availability, disaster recovery) Bills of materials, licensing alignment, and cost/risk trade-off analysis Define and validate future-state architectures across: Data center, campus, WAN, and branch environments SD-WAN, SASE, and ZTNA integrations Load balancing (L4/L7), DNS/DHCP/IPAM (DDI) NAC, segmentation, and micro-segmentation (as applicable) IPv4/IPv6 strategy, BGP/OSPF/ISIS, and EVPN/VXLAN where required Ensure all designs align with business objectives, including growth initiatives, M&A activity, regulatory compliance, cloud adoption, user experience, and cost optimization. Maintain hands-on credibility by validating designs through configuration prototypes, lab testing, packet captures, and live-environment troubleshooting. 2) Operational Stabilization & Network Reliability Excellence (Primary) Lead initiatives to stabilize and mature network operations by implementing: Standard operating procedures, runbooks, and defined escalation paths Incident reduction programs leveraging root cause analysis (RCA) and structured problem management Formal change governance with standardized templates, risk scoring, and rollback strategies Configuration standardization (golden configurations, compliance validation, drift detection) Resiliency improvements through SPOF elimination, HA consistency validation, and failover testing Develop and execute a Network Reliability Plan with measurable outcomes: Improved availability and reduced downtime Reduced MTTR Lower change failure rates Alert noise reduction Performance SLOs (latency, jitter, packet loss) aligned to application requirements Establish strong Day-2 operational readiness by implementing: Monitoring and telemetry baselines (SNMP, streaming telemetry, syslog, NetFlow) Event correlation and service mapping Capacity forecasting and lifecycle management Drive post-implementation validation through performance testing, failover validation, and formal operational acceptance criteria. 3) Executive & C-Level Engagement / Technology Leadership (Primary) Serve as a trusted technical advisor to executive stakeholders (CIO, CTO, CISO, VP Infrastructure/Operations). Lead executive workshops and translate technical strategy into business outcomes, including: Risk posture and resiliency strategy Compliance readiness CapEx/OpEx optimization and vendor strategy Cloud and network roadmap alignment Present architectural decisions with clearly articulated trade-offs: Option comparisons (cost, risk, complexity, time-to-value) Explicit assumptions and constraints Clear, defensible recommendations Own the technical narrative in high-impact forums such as QBRs, EBRs, steering committees, architecture review boards, and executive incident briefings. 4) Delivery Oversight & Technical Governance (Primary) Provide architectural governance throughout the delivery lifecycle. Review designs for accuracy, scalability, security, and operational readiness Ensure implementation fidelity to architectural intent Lead technical checkpoints (design reviews, pre-change readiness, go/no-go decisions) Define and enforce quality standards for: Implementation best practices and validation checklists Documentation completeness and operational handoff Functional, performance, and failover testing Partner with Program Managers and Delivery Leads on scope definition, sequencing, dependency management, risk mitigation, and cutover strategy planning. 5) Hands-On Troubleshooting & Escalation Leadership (Primary) Serve as the highest-level escalation point for complex network issues, including: Routing instability, BGP/OSPF anomalies, asymmetry, STP/loop conditions MTU/fragmentation challenges, application timeouts, TLS impacts WAN/ISP/cloud edge packet loss and jitter root cause analysis Firewall/NAT conflicts and segmentation misalignment Lead major incident bridge calls and coordinate cross-functional teams including network, security, compute, storage, applications, ISPs, and cloud providers. Apply evidence-based troubleshooting using packet captures, flow analytics, logs, telemetry, traceroutes, and synthetic testing. Translate deep technical findings into concise, executive-ready summaries. 6) Security, Compliance & Risk Integration (Key) Embed security into architecture and operational practices through: Segmentation and least-privilege connectivity models Secure management plane architecture (MFA, AAA, TACACS/RADIUS) Logging, auditability, and compliance alignment Design in accordance with applicable frameworks such as Zero Trust principles and regulatory control models (PCI, HIPAA, SOX, FedRAMP-like requirements). Ensure secure remote access and third-party connectivity architectures. 7) Standardization, Automation & Best Practice Enablement Drive enterprise-wide network engineering standards, including: Architecture standards and naming conventions IP schema governance, BGP community design, QoS strategy Lifecycle management including EOL/EOS tracking and refresh planning Promote automation and operational efficiency through: Infrastructure as Code (Ansible, Terraform) where appropriate Configuration templates and compliance guardrails Repeatable, automated deployment pipelines 8) Mentorship, Leadership & Cross-Functional Influence Mentor senior engineers and architects to elevate architectural quality and consistency. Lead communities of practice and provide technical enablement, training, and reusable design frameworks. Set technical direction across multiple programs and internal initiatives. Influence stakeholders across sales, delivery, and operations—driving alignment without formal authority.

Requirements

BA/BS degree and 8+ years’ relevant experience OR equivalent combination of education and experience.
Networking (deep) Routing/switching: BGP, OSPF, ISIS, VRF, MPLS basics (where relevant)
Data center: EVPN/VXLAN (if applicable), leaf-spine designs, multicast (optional)
WAN: SD-WAN design, QoS, traffic engineering concepts, ISP integration
Services: DDI (DNS/DHCP/IPAM), NTP, PKI/certs impacts on network services
Load balancing and application delivery basics
Network Security (strong) Firewalls (policy design, NAT, zones), segmentation models
NAC (802.1X), remote access, SASE integration patterns
Logging/telemetry integration for security and operations
Cloud & Hybrid (strong) AWS/Azure/GCP networking fundamentals: VPC/VNet, TGW/vWAN, peering, private connectivity
Hybrid connectivity: VPN/Direct Connect/ExpressRoute, routing domains, DNS patterns
Operations / Reliability (strong) Monitoring/telemetry, incident/problem/change management
Performance engineering: latency/jitter/loss and app experience
Documentation: runbooks, SOPs, as-built diagrams, acceptance criteria
Customer-Facing / Executive Skills (critical) Executive storytelling and decision framing
Workshops and architecture reviews
Conflict resolution, negotiation, risk communication