Principal Network Engineer

Principal Architect, Network Practice

Location : Remote. Central time zone preferred; open to all time zones.

Travel : Less than 50% travel per month

Employment type: W2 role

Communication : Candidates must have outstanding communication skills.

Role Description

The Principal Architect (PA) will primarily support the Solution Architects to build pipeline in products and services associated with their focus technologies. The Network Practice PA position is a network focused role that drives standards for modern Network Automation and Multi-Cloud Network Architecture. They have the ability to communicate highly technical concepts in order to be clearly understood by customers and technical peers alike. The PA will deliver billable services in the Plan and Design phases of a project but can also deliver services in the Implement phase, when necessary, especially where new technology is being deployed. The PA helps position EVT Services for supporting the solutions they focus on. The PA is a technical leadership role in the architecture area of expertise they support. The PA will cover mostly large Enterprise accounts across the business. They will mentor/support other Solution Architect’s and PS Engineers in opportunities that require their area of expertise on an as needed basis.

A day in the life of a PA:

• Connect the business needs of the customer(s) with technical delivery plan(s); together with the Solution Architects (SAs), they will own the definition of the technical design to meet the objectives and requirements of the higher-level business needs of the customer(s)
• Advise the technical delivery teams on network automation architecture
• Perform peer reviews, guidance, and contribute to best practices collateral and content/code
• Work with fellow Engineers and Architects to build automation designs, including developing a tech stack, developing proper levels of abstraction, and guidance on best practices
• Lead customer calls with technical peers and articulate the pros and cons of a given solution in a consumable manner to executive leadership
• Translate manual workflows into high-level and low-level designs
• Develop well-written technical documentation that documents solutions built for customers
• Quickly adopt new technologies and continuously demonstrate technical excellence

Role Responsibilities:

• Engage with customers to determine requirements needed to meet customer goals
• Develop presentations and proposals for customer opportunities
• Provide pipeline tracking for all opportunities
• Provide lead pre-sales support for practice focus area
• Maintain vendor programs or certifications as needed by management
• Prepare and present demos and training sessions for practice focus area
• Develop responses to RFQs and RFPs as needed
• Assist in review of designs with Cisco and other manufacturers in their practice focus area
• Develop SOW or technical scope of large SOW
• Provide accurate resource to services Level of Effort (LOE) scoping
• Perform delivery work as needed for customers related to area of focus services
• When needed, lead other project engineers and take project direction from Services PM
• Provide high quality documentation as needed
• Assists with other duties as directed

Role Requirements:

• In depth knowledge of full-stack architectures inclusive of ITSM (ServiceNow) Enterprise-driven workflows, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and CI/CD deployment models, Enterprise Network Orchestration & Automation, Source of Truth, ChatOps, Network Observability, and knowing how open source can lead or compliment a given architecture
• Experience in a customer-facing, consulting role with an understanding of the environment and challenges of IT operations in the typical large corporation
• Ability to break down complex concepts and present them in an organized and concise way, for varied levels of IT management
• Ability to make good decisions on usability, such as naming, user experience, complexity tradeoffs, layout, mapping technical solutions to customers’ skillsets, etc.
• Comfortable with context switching and working on multiple projects at the same time
• Experience with CI/CD and how it could be applied to network automation
• Experience with concepts around data management including IaC and Source of Truth strategy
• Deep experience with Cloud Service Providers and Cloud network constructs, AWS and Azure preferred
• Deep experience with Terraform, Ansible and/or Python automating networking devices
• Familiar with tools and libraries such as pytest, Nornir, Netmiko, NAPALM, Batfish, Salt, Robot Framework
• Familiar with traditional Git workflows for working in a collaborative environment
• A strong understanding of Source of Truth automation strategy
• CCNP or higher networking knowledge
• Maintain Cisco Specialization roles as needed by management
• A minimum of 8-10 years’ experience with providing consulting services for organizations
• Strong experience designing technology solutions for Fortune 500 companies
• Knowledge and familiarity with other EVT practice areas including DevOps, Cloud, Security, ServiceNow, and Enterprise Infrastructure
• Strong coordination and lead role skills
• Exceptional attention to detail and strong organizational skills
• Strong understanding of how clients use technology to meet business objectives
• Strong work experience with Microsoft Visio or LucidChart, Excel, Word and Powerpoint
• Preferred experience with Cisco online tools and Netformx DesignExpert

What you bring:

• Passion for customer experience and success
• Keen interest in helping customers throughout their automation journey
• Honesty and empathy to those around you on a daily basis
• A focused and solution-oriented approach necessary to see projects through to completion
• Confidence and decisiveness in moving the ball forward while being flexible and open
• Ability to demonstrate the latest technology in a way that resonates with customers

Role Performance Metrics

• The PA will have a Product and Services revenue goal to be determined by management.
• The revenue goals will be measured ongoing for billable and annually for product.
• 60% Professional Services billable utilization target (annual goal).