Enterprise Architect - Network Infrastructure

Certifications

• Certifications aren't mandatory but the level is crucial, The below are examples that would be beneficial:
• CCIE (Enterprise Infrastructure, Service Provider, or Data Center) -required, or clearly demonstrated equivalent expert-level skill.
• JNCIE or equivalent Juniper expert-level certification -accepted as an alternative to CCIE where routing/switching depth is proven.
• CCDE -strongly preferred as evidence of design-level (not just operational) expertise.
• Arista ACE, PCNSE (Palo Alto), or hyperscaler networking specialty certifications (AWS Advanced Networking, Azure Network Engineer)

Adjacent Technical Skills (Beneficial, Not Required)

Depth in the specialist area above is mandatory. Experience in the following adjacent domains is a strong plus and will be valued in candidate evaluation, since it enables broader solution ownership across engagements.

• Cloud networking: native AWS/Azure/GCP networking, transit gateways, and hybrid connectivity (Direct Connect, ExpressRoute).
• Security architecture, particularly firewalls, zero trust network access, and SASE.
• Wireless architecture (CWNP-level expertise).
• Network automation/DevNet-style software engineering.
• Data center compute and virtualization exposure (VMware, OpenStack, OpenShift), given how tightly fabric design is now coupled to compute platforms.
• AI networking (InfiniBand/RoCE fabrics for GPU clusters), an increasingly relevant adjacent specialism.

Leadership & Delivery Expectations

• Leads technical delivery independently and is the de facto final word on routing/switching design decisions within an engagement.
• Comfortable being the deepest technical voice in the room, including with client-side CCIE-level engineers.
• Mentors other network engineers and architects, raising technical depth across the practice.
• Communicates complex routing/switching trade-offs clearly to both technical teams and infrastructure leadership.
• Remains calm and decisive during live cutover windows and critical incident escalations.