Director of Infrastructure & Platform Architecture

Job#: 3023152

Job Description:

Apex Systems has an opening for a

Director of Infrastructure & Platform Architecture

with a growing client in the Virginia area. An exceptional opportunity for a rising infrastructure leader to guide enterprise modernization and build lasting institutional impact.

Title: Director of Infrastructure & Platform Architecture

Location: Norfolk, VA- remote with some office meetings

Duration: 6 month contract to hire

Position Information

Job Title: Director, Digital Infrastructure & Platform Architecture

The Digital Infrastructure & Platform Architecture division advances secure, resilient, and scalable enterprise digital platforms that support academic, research, clinical, and administrative missions. The department partners across technology, academic, administrative, and research units to deliver modern enterprise network, cloud, and infrastructure platforms aligned with institutional strategy, research expectations, and operational requirements.

Job Summary

• The Director of Digital Infrastructure & Platform Architecture is a senior technology leader responsible for enterprise digital infrastructure and platform architecture across on-campus, cloud, and research environments. This position guides the evolution of enterprise network, connectivity, and infrastructure platforms as integrated, security-aligned, automation-enabled capabilities.
• The role emphasizes platform architecture leadership over day-to-day operations. The Director is accountable for resilience, reliability, scalability, and forward-looking design, with key focus areas including hybrid and multi-cloud enablement, Zero Trust alignment, data movement, analytics readiness, AI adoption, and support for research growth.
• This position provides architectural direction, portfolio leadership, and cross-domain collaboration. It is designed for an emerging enterprise leader seeking broad institutional exposure, mentorship, and significant strategic impact within a complex environment that includes research and clinical operations.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master's degree in computer science, engineering, information technology, or a related field; or a bachelor's degree with equivalent senior-level leadership experience.
• Progressive experience contributing to or leading enterprise-scale digital infrastructure, connectivity, or platform initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to design, assess, and govern secure, scalable, and resilient infrastructure platforms in complex environments.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams, vendors, and budgets across multi-year initiatives.
• Ability to collaborate with executive leadership, faculty, researchers, and operational partners in outcome-focused environments.
• Experience with operational and capital budgeting, lifecycle planning, and vendor management.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting research-intensive, clinical, or data-intensive environments.
• Exposure to product, platform, or service portfolio management approaches.
• Familiarity with higher education and/or academic medical environments.
• Experience partnering across cloud, data, analytics, security, and enterprise architecture domains.

Core Responsibilities / Duties and Tasks

Digital Infrastructure & Platform Strategy (30%) - Essential

• Provide enterprise leadership for digital infrastructure and connectivity platforms, including campus and data center network architecture, cloud connectivity, and foundational infrastructure services.
• Define and govern a multi-year digital infrastructure and platform architecture roadmap aligned with institutional strategic priorities, research growth, and clinical requirements.
• Position infrastructure as an integrated enterprise platform enabling secure digital experiences, analytics, data movement, AI adoption, and research scalability.
• Modernize architectures to reduce technical debt, improve resilience, and ensure long-term readiness.
• Partner with academic, research, and administrative leaders to translate evolving needs into scalable platform capabilities and investment strategies.

Cloud, Network, Automation & Security-Aligned Architecture (25%) - Essential

• Lead architectural oversight for enterprise network and connectivity platforms, including wired, wireless, data center, and cloud-adjacent networks.
• Provide strategic direction for hybrid and multi-cloud architectures across on-premises, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, SaaS, and edge environments.
• Guide adoption of automation, infrastructure-as-code, and orchestration to improve reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency.
• Ensure alignment with Zero Trust principles, identity-aware networking, segmentation, and security-aligned architecture in close partnership with security leadership.
• Establish enterprise practices for monitoring, observability, resilience, continuity of operations, and disaster recovery.
• Oversee architecture supporting research computing, clinical systems, facilities technologies, IoT, and physical security platforms.

Product, Service & Portfolio Management (20%) - Essential

• Deliver infrastructure as a managed portfolio of enterprise platforms and services using modern service and product management practices.
• Maintain transparency through service definitions, architecture standards, lifecycle documentation, and risk assessments.
• Coordinate dependencies across infrastructure, cloud, data, analytics, and integration domains to support enterprise reporting, research data pipelines, and observability.

Leadership, Partnership & Talent Development (15%) - Essential

• Collaborate with the CIO, CISO, Digital Innovation, Data & Analytics, Client Services, and Enterprise Architecture leaders to execute enterprise technology strategy.
• Lead teams responsible for enterprise network architecture, cloud connectivity, and infrastructure platform design, with aligned operational teams handling day-to-day execution.
• Clearly define team ownership and boundaries, ensuring alignment with future operating models and avoiding duplication across operational or security functions.
• Build and develop high-performing teams focused on architecture, cloud platforms, automation, and secure infrastructure.
• Establish strong partnerships with academic, research, and clinical stakeholders through influence and collaboration.
• Represent Digital Infrastructure & Platform Architecture in governance bodies, initiatives, and cross-functional working groups.

Continuous Improvement & Professional Practice (10%) - Essential

• Monitor emerging trends in digital infrastructure, networking, cloud platforms, automation, AI readiness, and research computing.
• Maintain professional currency through peer networks, conferences, and vendor engagement.
• Ensure compliance with institutional policies, procurement requirements, ethical standards, and applicable regulations.

Representative Technology Competencies

• Enterprise/campus LAN/WAN connectivity; 10/100G Ethernet; Metro-E; DWDM/wave; VPN; SD-WAN; SASE; Wi-Fi 6/6E/7; private cellular, DAS, and neutral host.
• Internet and cloud networking: BGP, autonomous systems, regional Internet registries, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, Cloud Interconnect.
• Enterprise routing/switching: L2/L3, ACI, SD-Access, MPLS, VXLAN, shortest-path bridging, user-based tunneling.
• Platforms: Cisco, Arista, Extreme, Juniper, HPE/Aruba.
• Network services/management: DNS/DHCP/IPAM (Infoblox/EfficientIP), Cisco ISE, ClearPass, Catalyst Center, CloudVision, Apstra, CloudIQ, ThousandEyes.
• Monitoring/visibility: SolarWinds, Nagios, Cacti, Gigamon, IXIA, and similar tools.
• Automation/IaC: Ansible, Terraform, Pulumi, Python, APIs, GitHub, NetBox, Nautobot.
• Security and governance: firewalls, intrusion prevention, network detection/response, DDoS protection, CASB, Zero Trust, segmentation, FERPA, HIPAA, ITIL.

Apex Systems is a world-class IT services company that serves thousands of clients across the globe. When you join Apex, you become part of a team that values innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. We offer quality career resources, training, certifications, development opportunities, and a comprehensive benefits package. Our commitment to excellence is reflected in many awards, including ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing in Talent Satisfaction in the United States and Great Place to Work in the United Kingdom and Mexico. Apex uses a virtual recruiter as part of the application process. Click for more details.

Apex Benefits Overview: Apex offers a range of supplemental benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and other insurance plans that offer an optional layer of financial protection. We offer an ESPP (employee stock purchase program) and a 401K program which allows you to contribute typically within 30 days of starting, with a company match after 12 months of tenure. Apex also offers a HSA (Health Savings Account on the HDHP plan), a SupportLinc Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with up to 8 free counseling sessions, a corporate discount savings program and other discounts. In terms of professional development, Apex hosts an on-demand training program, provides access to certification prep and a library of technical and leadership courses/books/seminars once you have 6+ months of tenure, and certification discounts and other perks to associations that include CompTIA and IIBA. Apex has a dedicated customer service team for our Consultants that can address questions around benefits and other resources, as well as a certified Career Coach. You can access a full list of our benefits, programs, support teams and resources within our 'Welcome Packet' as well, which an Apex team member can provide.