Physical Security Systems Architect Design & Pre-Construction

Physical Security Systems Architect — Design & Pre-Construction

Duration: 6 months to conversion

Location: US-based, remote with travel for site surveys

The role

Design authority for enterprise physical security deployments — surveillance, access control, and the supporting network — delivered as part of branch and campus technology programs across commercial and federal customers. This is a design seat. You own the package from site survey through issued-for-construction drawings and commissioning support. You do not install, and the role does not touch monitoring or post-deployment operations.

What you’ll own

• Site assessment and existing-condition survey; translating customer security requirements into a buildable design
• Camera placement and coverage design — field of view, lens selection, pixel-per-foot against identification and recognition requirements, lighting and environmental conditions
• Access control design — door schedules, reader and controller placement, lock hardware coordination, credential architecture, integration with existing head-end
• VMS and storage architecture — retention modelling, bandwidth and throughput calculation, recorder and server sizing, failover
• Supporting network design — PoE budgeting, switch and port counts, VLAN segmentation and isolation of the security network, IP schema, MDF and IDF layouts, cable paths and conduit routing
• Issued design documentation — riser diagrams, device schedules, point-to-point drawings, elevations, bill of materials, specifications
• Provisioning and commissioning requirements written into the package — authentication, certificate handling and device onboarding specified so the installing technician brings devices onto the network correctly the first time
• Design-stage support to the installing contractor; review of as-builts and commissioning documentation
• Gap analysis and capability mapping for customers standing up a security program, including migration paths off legacy or end-of-life platforms

Required

• 8+ years designing physical security systems at enterprise or multi-site scale
• A portfolio of issued design packages — drawings that an installing contractor built from without interpretation. Portfolio reviewed at interview
• Working command of both the security platform layer and the network beneath it. This role sits on that seam; candidates strong on only one side will struggle in it
• Current manufacturer certification on at least two of: Genetec, Lenel, Brivo, Axis, Avigilon, Verkada, Cisco Meraki
• AutoCAD, plus Bluebeam or Revit
• Familiarity with the governing standards — ONVIF, TIA/EIA structured cabling, NFPA, local AHJ requirements, and NDAA Section 889 where federal end-customers are in scope

Preferred

• Design experience across multiple access control platforms, including integration between them
• Background on an integrator’s design or pre-construction desk
• Multi-site retail or banking branch estates — distributed rollouts rather than single-campus
• Active US security clearance
• BICSI RCDD
• ASIS PSP