Summary
The Network Solutions Architect will be responsible for Network Infrastructure lifecycle Management including planning, design, oversight, and optimization. This individual will collaborate extensively with world-wide business and IT professionals, as well as with US-based Infrastructure, Applications, Information Security teams, and third-party vendors and contractors. They will focus heavily on the strategic and architectural design of on-premises and Cloud networking solutions. The Network Solutions Architect will help support a robust network environment by supporting office moves, troubleshooting, and design/configuration. They will use their expertise in SDWAN, Routing Architectures, and Data Center Connectivity to oversee both large and small installations, utilizing a variety of both on-premises and Cloud platforms. Candidates must be a recognized communicator, subject matter expert, thought leader, champion for technology adoption and compliance, and passionate empathizer of client needs.
Responsibilities - Serve as the point-of-contact for issues, questions, and support escalation needs.
- Maintain contact and build relationships with the operating businesses, IT Management, IT vendors and technical architects to ensure availability, security, and satisfaction.
- Assist in identifying new and improved approaches, technologies, tools, templates, and business use cases.
- Support deployment and configuration of a complex Network Infrastructure environment.
- Assess on-prem data centers, office locations and Clouds for network capacity, connectivity, performance, and resiliency.
- Review, approve, and represent change tickets in the Network Infrastructure Area.
- Lead Networking Break-Fix situations with multiple team members including managed-service provider partners.
- Maintain broad-based technical and solutions knowledge in key networking optimization and solution areas including:
- SDWAN;
- SDA;
- Network Segmentation;
- PAN Firewall Management;
- VPN Concentration.
- Apply networking expertise across a Hybrid Cloud environment (on-premise, Azure, AWS, OCI), Infrastructure as code (IaC)/Networking automation.
Requirements - BS and/or MS in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
- 5+ years of experience (unless otherwise noted) in the following areas:
- Networking – Cloud & On-Premise;
- Creating Firewall Policy;
- Formal ITIL Change Process;
- Systems Development Lifecycle;
- Producing requirements documentation and evidence (ServiceNow experience a plus).
- 2+ years of experience working with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC).
- Extensive understanding of routing architectures and SD networking concepts.
- Experience leading assessments and developing business cases and solution architectures.
- Experience with multi-phased, complex migration programs that address technology, people/organization, and process change.
- Experience leading third-party delivery teams in geographically-dispersed locations.
- Strong written skills; ability to create concise and structured recommendations for total solutions, as well as simplifying systems architectures.
- Dynamic and engaging presentation style that commands respect, inspires confidence, earns trust, and makes the complex easy to understand.
- Strong business engagement and customer relationship management skills.
- Demonstrated proficiency with technical architecture including the practical adaptation and implementation, functional deployment, and business ROI focused areas of enterprise infrastructure solutions.
- Financial fluency in working with ROI, cost analysis, and financial statements.
Preferred - Experience working with the following:
- Hybrid Routing Architectures (On-Prem & Cloud) including routing tables and protocols (i.e., BGP, OSPF, VXLAN, OMP);
- Monitoring tools including SolarWinds Orion, Cisco DNA Center, Azure ARC, and Azure Monitor;
- Cisco SDWAN;
- Implementing Zero Trust Security;
- Wireless Design for Wi-Fi 6E, using Predictive Site tools;
- Designing load balancers;
- Network Authentication utilizing Cisco ISE;
- Firewall Management utilizing Panorama, Azure WAFs, and Azure firewalls;
- Scripting/Coding for automation using PowerShell, Python, Ansible, Terraform, etc.;
- ServiceNow.
This is a 12-month Contract-to-Hire opportunity with our Overland Park, KS client. ** Hybrid work schedule ** H1-B Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. No third-parties, please.