Senior Network Architect

Location: Boston, MA
Duration: 12 Months
Employment Type: Contract

The Opportunity

We are seeking a visionary Senior Network Architect to lead the transformation of a large-scale, statewide infrastructure supporting over 250 locations across Massachusetts from small community offices to major corporate hubs.

This role is critical in driving a hybrid-cloud evolution, migrating on-prem applications to AWS, and modernizing a complex routing and security environment into a resilient, scalable, cloud-first architecture.

Core Responsibilities

Architectural Strategy

• Design and maintain large-scale hub-and-spoke and mesh network architectures

• Support connectivity across ~250 distributed sites

• Ensure high availability, resiliency, and scalability

Hybrid Cloud Integration

• Architect secure, high-speed connectivity between on-prem infrastructure and AWS

• Lead implementation of AWS Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, VPC architecture, and cloud routing strategies

• Optimize hybrid-cloud performance and failover designs

Routing & Switching

• Serve as technical authority for complex routing environments

• Expert management of:

  • EIGRP (primary IGP)

  • BGP (external/cloud peering)

  • Targeted OSPF deployments

• Deep expertise in Cisco IOS/XE/NX-OS platforms

Security & Traffic Management

• Oversee perimeter security using Fortigate (FortiOS) firewalls

• Manage VPN technologies and secure inter-site communication

• Lead application delivery strategy using:

  • F5 LTM/GTM or Citrix NetScaler

  • Enterprise load balancing solutions

Observability & Performance

• Utilize SolarWinds (NPM/NCM) for enterprise monitoring

• Implement proactive capacity planning

• Drive advanced troubleshooting and root cause analysis

Modernization & SDN

• Lead transition from hardware-centric infrastructure to:

  • Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

  • Cloud-native networking models

• Define future-state network roadmap

Technical Profile

The ideal candidate is a senior-level Cisco expert with strong AWS networking architecture experience and proven success managing large distributed environments.

Required Expertise

• Cisco IOS/XE/NX-OS (expert-level)

• Deep mastery of EIGRP and BGP

• AWS Networking (VPC, Security Groups, Route 53, Direct Connect, Transit Gateway)

• Fortigate (FortiOS) firewalls

• VPN technologies

• F5 LTM/GTM or Citrix NetScaler

• SolarWinds enterprise monitoring

Qualifications

• 10+ years in network engineering

• Minimum 4 years in a Lead Architect / Principal-level role

• Bachelor s degree in Computer Science, IT, or equivalent experience

• CCNP (Enterprise or Data Center) Required

• CCIE or AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Preferred

• Strong ability to communicate complex technical strategy to non-technical stakeholders

• Proven leadership in cross-functional enterprise initiatives