Principal Network & Platform Engineer / Architect - Virtualized Network Services

Principal Network & Platform Engineer / Architect Virtualized Network Services

About the Role

We're looking for a senior technical leader to own the design, engineering, and architecture of a Tier-1 customer's platform from start to finish. The platform is a globally deployed, cloud-hosted, multi-tenant environment that delivers virtualized network services and follows industry standards. You'll shape and deliver its next generation of capabilities across interconnected networks and Equinix POPs worldwide. That means tenant separation, hardened security, resilience, high availability, and connectivity that scales to 400G.

A key part of the job is defining how the current platform and the next-generation platform run side by side and work together during migration. Throughout, you'll keep tenants strictly isolated and hold operations to a high standard.

Core Competencies

• Troubleshoot deeply and find root causes where compute and network meet
• Turn requirements into designs teams can build, and write about them clearly
• Plan cross-connects and coordinate well with carriers and vendors
• Weigh platform-wide standards against designs written into customer contracts
• Think in systems and lead architecture for complex multi-tenant platforms

What You'll Do VNF Hosting & Service Delivery

• Help create simpler, more scalable Layer 2 and overlay designs (such as VXLAN) and automation patterns that cut manual configuration and make deployments consistent.
• Make sure the platform can run network functions at scale, including SBCs, firewalls, virtual routers, and similar VNFs.
• Build platform capabilities to host the voice and data services the Tier-1 customer has approved and endorsed, such as ADI, AVPN, and other transport products.

Resiliency, Connectivity & Network Engineering

• Set and apply standards for high-speed connectivity, including upstream and downstream links up to 400G that also support sub-rate port speeds.
• Keep management and WAN networks reachable through both single and multiple network failures.
• Maintain and improve geo-redundant node designs and HA patterns (logical pairs, local redundancy, and geo-redundancy) that match what customers have contracted for.
• Build redundant management access, such as jump-server connectivity, between platform sites. Use diverse paths including Teridion IPsec tunnels, AVPN, and back-to-back links through third-party carriers like Zenlayer, Windstream, and Zayo.

Documentation, Operations & Technical Leadership

• Act as a Tier 4 escalation point during incident and problem management for complex platform or network issues that affect reachability or availability.
• Create high-quality architecture deliverables: HLDs and LLDs, standards, implementation guides, and operational runbooks.
• Support selected customer designs owned by dedicated teams (such as Consulting and LCM) that need advanced networking, resiliency, and integration with partner capabilities like Equinix Fabric.
• Lead technically across vendors and engineering teams. Run design reviews, risk assessments, and implementation-readiness checks.

Parallel Build, Rollout & Migration Interoperability

• Plan compute repurposing after migration, such as turning eligible legacy compute into next-generation compute.
• Lead the rollout as a full parallel build next to existing platforms, with no shared functions and a clean separation between environments.
• Design and set up interoperability between platforms for migration, using cross-connects inside each POP site where needed.

Hardening, Security & Compliance

• Work with security stakeholders so the architecture provides the confidentiality, integrity, and operational controls a shared-hardware, multi-tenant cloud needs.
• Keep platform engineering in line with the Tier-1 customer's ASPRR accreditation requirements, including strong hardening policies and procedures for production servers and devices.

Platform Design & Architecture

• Lead next-generation design improvements built on SONiC Enterprise networking, Red Hat OpenShift and OpenStack, and Dell CPU-based servers. Bring in new compute (DPUs, GPUs, and more) and networking capabilities to expand what the platform can offer.
• Shape and grow the multi-tenant architecture to protect data integrity and confidentiality and enforce compute isolation, for example by never letting customers share vCPU core threads.
• Own the architecture and detailed design of the platform's infrastructure and networking. This covers the high-speed leaf/spine switch fabric backplane, the dual-rail/dual-rack layout, and flexible resiliency options such as regional failover, geo-redundancy, and local HA.

Must-Have Qualifications

• Experience with Kubernetes platforms and container orchestration patterns for deploying and scaling CNFs, service discovery, and operational resilience.
• A proven record of writing architecture and design documents and leading technical reviews with stakeholders across functions.
• Experience with high-speed data center networking (100G and up; 400G preferred) and designing for throughput and scale.
• 8 12+ years in platform or network engineering, with major ownership of architecture and design in large, multi-site environments.
• Hands-on experience hosting CNFs and VNFs in cloud-native, NFV, or cloud-enabled environments.
• Experience with Redis or similar in-memory data stores used for messaging, state management, caching, or high-performance service and application architectures.
• A solid background in management network design, redundant WAN connectivity, and secure remote access patterns such as jump hosts.
• A track record of designing resilient, highly available compute platforms that run network functions across geographically distributed POPs and data centers.
• Experience with Red Hat platforms and other virtualization software used to deploy, run, and lifecycle-manage enterprise compute and network-function environments.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Experience in Equinix colocation environments and in setting deployment standards for global POPs.
• Knowledge of AI and GenAI infrastructure: GPU cluster design, model architectures, AI provider ecosystems, inference traffic patterns, and what it takes to operate AI-enabled services.
• Experience supporting accredited or regulated environments with formal hardening standards, such as ASPRR-aligned controls.
• Familiarity with modern data center fabric designs and SONiC-based network operating systems and switching.
• Understanding of overlay networking (such as VXLAN) and automation-driven provisioning and service chaining.
• Experience with lifecycle engineering and Red Hat-based infrastructure platforms in enterprise environments.

Every skill, technology, vendor, and duty from the original is still here. I rephrased and reordered it, renamed and moved the sections, and moved the competencies up so they come before the duties.

Founded in 2014, is a global leader in delivering innovative IT solutions and services. Headquartered in the USA with a presence in the UK, Canada, and India, we specialize in offering industry-leading expertise and cutting-edge products that help our clients maximize their technological investments. Our focus on best-in-class solutions, a highly knowledgeable team, and proactive talent mapping ensure we remain at the forefront of the IT industry.

ConglomerateIT is driven by our Center for Excellence and Innovation, an initiative dedicated to keeping us ahead in a rapidly evolving technology landscape. We understand that building strong relationships is key to our success, and this commitment has enabled us to partner with Fortune 500 companies and leading system integrators worldwide. Our ability to provide local talent on a global scale ensures that we can meet the contingent project requirements of our clients efficiently and effectively.