Job Description
Overview:
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A Network Architect is responsible for designing and governing network architecture that supports business services.
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This includes translating requirements into scalable, secure, and resilient designs, and making informed trade-off decisions across cost, risk, and performance.
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Core Responsibilities:
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- Architecture and Design
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- Design enterprise network architecture across data center, WAN, cloud, and hybrid environments
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- Define standards, patterns, and reference architectures
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- Ensure scalability, resiliency, and security by design
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- Trade-off and Decision Making:
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- Balance performance, cost, risk, and operability
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- Evaluate competing approaches (e.g., overlay vs underlay, vendor vs open solutions)
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- Make design decisions at the system level rather than the device level
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- This is a key differentiator compared to a technical project manager or engineer
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- Vendor and Technology Neutrality:
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- Evaluate technologies across multiple vendors (e.g., Cisco, VMware, Juniper) and open source.
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- Avoid designing around a single vendor's constraints or bias
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- Select solutions based on best architectural fit
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- Complex Programme Delivery:
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- Lead architecture across large, multi-domain programmes
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- Collaborate with infrastructure, security, cloud, and application teams
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- Own end-to-end design coherence rather than isolated components
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- Typically involves large-scale enterprise or highly regulated environments with multi-region and high-resilience requirements
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- Stakeholder Management (Conflict Handling):
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- Align stakeholders across security, operations, business, and vendors
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- Manage conflicting requirements such as:
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- Security vs usability
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- Cost vs resiliency
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- Speed vs governance
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- Drive decisions to closure through effective communication
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- Governance and Standards:
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- Define and enforce network standards
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- Review designs to ensure alignment with architectural principles
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- Provide guidance to engineering and delivery teams
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Required Skills:
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- Technical (Core Expectations)
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- Strong fundamentals:
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- Routing and protocols: BGP (mandatory), OSPF, TCP/IP
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- Data center networking and fabric design
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- Network security principles (e.g., segmentation, access control)
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- Up-to-date enterprise stack:
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- Software-defined networking (e.g., NSX)
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- VXLAN and overlay networking
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- Hybrid cloud networking
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- Network automation (e.g., Python, APIs)
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- Platform expertise:
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- Strong Linux and networking integration
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- Ability to troubleshoot network issues at the operating system level
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- Y working with containers and infrastructure tooling
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- Experience
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- Proven delivery of complex, enterprise-scale projects
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- Preferably within financial services or similarly regulated environments
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- Experience with:
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- High availability and disaster recovery designs
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- Multi-region and data center interconnects
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- Secure access models
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- Soft Skills (Critical for the Role)
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- Strong ability to articulate trade-offs
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- Confidence in constructively challenging stakeholders
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- Clear communication across both technical and non-technical audiences
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- Ability to drive decisions, not just facilitate discussions
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- Anti-Patterns (What This Role Is Not)
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- Not a technical project manager
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- Not limited to facilitating discussions
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- Not focused solely on explaining architecture without making decisions
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Not driven by vendor-led solutions.
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[email protected]
📌 Network Architect (Chennai)
🏢 Prodapt
📍 Chennai