Network Architect, Team Lead

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Network Architect Lead plays a critical role in ensuring the reliability, performance, and scalability of our data center and customer connectivity infrastructure. This position is responsible for maintaining high availability of customer circuits, ensuring compliance with SLA performance targets, and providing technical leadership in troubleshooting, design, and optimization of complex network environments. You will interface directly with customers, service providers, and internal operations teams to ensure network resilience, rapid fault isolation, and proactive service improvements.

Some of the responsibilities you can expect include the following:

• Monitor and maintain customer-facing circuits to ensure adherence to SLAs and minimal downtime across all data center environments.
• Design, implement, and optimize network infrastructure across core, distribution, and access layers within enterprise and colocation facilities.
• Collaborate with customers and service providers to validate connectivity, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate scheduled maintenance windows.
• Configure and maintain Layer 2 and Layer 3 network services, including VLANs, STP, vPC, LACP, OSPF, BGP, QoS, and IPsec VPNs.
• Create, update, and enforce Methods of Procedure (MOPs), change documentation, and incident reports for all network operations activities.
• Support network security enforcement through ACLs, segmentation, and secure tunneling (SSL/IPsec).
• Participate in root-cause analysis (RCA) and continuous improvement efforts following major incidents or performance degradations.
• Assist in capacity planning, network upgrades, and hardware lifecycle management to align with business growth and evolving SLA requirements.
• Serve as a technical liaison between operations, engineering, and customer success teams to maintain transparent communication and accountability.

ABOUT YOU

• Bachelor's or Diploma in Computer Science, Telecommunications, or Electrical/Network Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum 5–7 years of hands-on experience in enterprise or data center network engineering roles.
• Strong understanding of service provider and enterprise technologies, including MPLS, VPLS, OSPF, BGP, IPv6, STP, and QoS.
• Demonstrated experience with Cisco Nexus (9K series), Catalyst, and ISR/ASR platforms in production environments.
• CCNP certification (or higher) required; CCIE preferred
• Familiarity with network automation tools (Python, Ansible, NETCONF/YANG) and monitoring systems (Zabbix, Grafana, SolarWinds, or similar).
• Proven ability to analyze, troubleshoot, and restore network service across multi-vendor environments.
• Strong communication and customer engagement skills, with the ability to translate technical findings into clear business impact.
• Knowledge of change management practices, documentation standards, and RCA methodologies.
• Self-driven, collaborative, and capable of working in a mission-critical 24/7 environment.
• Technical Skills
  • Deep experience with data center fabrics (spine-leaf, vPC, VXLAN, EVPN) and east-west traffic engineering.
  • Familiar with hybrid cloud networking, including AWS/Azure/Google Cloud connectivity, Direct Connect, and Transit Gateway designs.
  • Proficiency in network automation & orchestration — scripting (Python, Ansible, Terraform), templating, and API integrations for service delivery and operations.
  • Skilled in performance monitoring and analytics — interpreting telemetry, flow data, and SLA metrics, and proactively identifying network degradation.
  • Expertise in business continuity and disaster recovery networking, including redundant links, failover mechanisms, and SLA-driven designs.
  • Experience with vendor and service-provider coordination, including circuit provisioning, SLA enforcement, escalation management, and stakeholder interfaces.
  • Multi-Vendor & Service-Provider Coordination: Proven experience managing and troubleshooting across Cisco (Nexus, Catalyst, ISR/ASR), Fortinet (FortiGate firewalls, SD-WAN), and Juniper (EX, MX, SRX) — with direct involvement in circuit provisioning, SLA enforcement, escalation management, and collaboration with carrier and third-party partners to ensure service compliance and uptime.
• Soft and Operational Skills
  • Strong customer interface skills — working directly with customers to understand business requirements, define SLA targets, and manage expectations.
  • Leadership in incident management and root-cause analysis (RCA) — driving post-mortems, documenting corrective actions, and resolving recurring issues.
  • Proven ability to develop documentation and process standardization — operational playbooks, MOPs, and compliance workflows.
  • Excellent communication skills — able to translate technical network issues into business-impact language for operations leadership and customers.
  • Commitment to continuous improvement and technology evolution, staying current with SDN/NFV, telemetry, and AI-ops trends.

ABOUT THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

This is a remote position with periodic on-site responsibilities at our Data Centers or corporate offices. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Compensation ~$130k CAD bonus and equity.