Principal Network Architect

Job Title: Principal Network Architect

Location:  Warren Michigan.

expectation of 2-3 days onsite at client

Duration: Long Term

Responsibilities

Position Overview

·       The Principal Network Engineer/Architect is a senior technical leader embedded within a dedicated World Wide Technology Client engagement team supporting a top 5 U.S. automotive manufacturer’s global network environment. This role combines deep Cisco architecture and Day Two operations expertise with team leadership, structured enablement, and direct client consulting.

·       The Principal Engineer/Architect is the senior-most technical escalation point for an assigned team of CCNA- and CCNP-level Network Engineers. They drive the team’s technical growth through coaching and enablement, support new-hire onboarding into the client environment, consult directly with the client on active network problems, and own capacity planning analysis and reporting for the account.

Key Responsibilities

Team Coaching & Enablement

·       Design and deliver ongoing enablement and training for CCNA- and CCNP-level Network Engineers, covering Cisco architecture, security, and troubleshooting methodology.

·       Mentor engineers one-on-one, run technical knowledge-transfer sessions, and build individual growth plans aligned to certification paths (CCNA ? CCNP ? CCIE).

·       Establish and maintain team documentation, runbooks, and knowledge-base standards to raise team-wide technical capability.

·       Onboarding & Client Environment Acclimation

·       Own the technical onboarding plan for new team members joining the account, ensuring a seamless, low-friction ramp-up to the client’s environment, tools, and processes.

·       Partner with account leadership to standardize onboarding checklists, access provisioning, and shadow/pairing schedules for new starts.

·       Serve as the first point of contact for new engineers’ environment-specific questions during their first 60–90 days on the account.

·       Technical Escalation & Problem Resolution

·       Act as the senior-most technical escalation point for the assigned team on complex network incidents, outages, and design challenges.

·       Step directly into unresolved or high-severity issues, driving root cause analysis and remediation across routing, switching, security, and WAN/data center architecture.

·       Consult directly with client stakeholders on active network problems, translating technical findings into clear risk, impact, and remediation guidance.

Client Consulting & Trusted Advisory

·       Serve as a primary technical point of contact for the client on network architecture, operations, and transformation topics.

·       Represent in client working sessions, technical reviews, and status meetings, building and protecting client trust in the engagement.

·       Identify opportunities to improve network resiliency, security posture, and operational efficiency, and present recommendations to client stakeholders.

·       Capacity Planning & Reporting

·       Complete recurring capacity planning assessments across the client’s network infrastructure — bandwidth, hardware lifecycle, redundancy, and growth headroom.

·       Analyze utilization trends and forecast future capacity needs tied to client growth, seasonality, and business initiatives.

·       Prepare and deliver capacity planning findings and recommendations in formal reports and readouts to client leadership.

·       Network Architecture & Day Two Operations

·       Serve as the Cisco subject matter expert across routing/switching, wireless, data center, and WAN architectures deployed in the client environment.

·       Own or contribute to Day Two operational excellence: change management, configuration standards, patching cadence, and operational health checks.

·       Provide architectural guidance and design review for network security initiatives (segmentation, zero trust, firewall/ACL policy, NAC) and network transformation projects (SD-WAN migration, data center modernization, cloud connectivity).

·       Required Qualifications

·       10+ years of progressive network engineering experience, including 3+ years in a senior, lead, or architect-level role.

·       Cisco CCNP required; CCIE (Routing & Switching, Security, or Enterprise Infrastructure) strongly preferred.

·       Deep, hands-on expertise with Cisco enterprise architecture: routing/switching (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP), Cisco ACI, SD-WAN, enterprise wireless, and data center networking.

·       Demonstrated experience with network security technologies and practices: firewalls, network segmentation, NAC, zero trust architecture, and security operations for network infrastructure.

·       Proven experience leading or contributing to network transformation initiatives (SD-WAN migrations, data center consolidation/modernization, cloud network connectivity).

·       Experience coaching, mentoring, or formally training junior and mid-level network engineers.

·       Strong track record of direct client- or stakeholder-facing consulting, including presenting technical findings to non-technical or executive audiences.

·       Experience with capacity planning methodologies and reporting.

·       Excellent verbal and written communication skills; comfortable serving as an escalation point under pressure.

·       Ability to work on-site or hybrid as required to support a large enterprise manufacturing client environment.

Preferred Qualifications

·       Prior experience supporting a large enterprise or manufacturing client in a managed services, staff augmentation, or consulting capacity.

·       Familiarity with ITIL-based operations, change management, and ITSM/ticketing platforms (e.g., ServiceNow).

·       Experience with network automation and observability tooling (e.g., Cisco DNA Center, ThousandEyes, SolarWinds).

·       Additional certifications such as CISSP, Cisco DevNet, or vendor-specific security certifications