Principal Network Architect

MVNO Index; Isle of Man; On-site; GBP 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Stacuity, Isle of Man, is seeking a Principal Network Architect to own the design of the global IP network. You will craft high‑level and low‑level designs, drive implementation with engineers, and ensure ultra‑high availability across MNO, MVNO, and enterprise edge sites worldwide.

You will lead routing, switching, firewall architectures, and cloud integrations, mentoring engineers and aligning security with ISO 27001 requirements. The role combines hands‑on delivery with strategic leadership.

Qualifications

• Minimum CCNP level across major enterprise networking vendors.
• Excellent written and spoken English.

Responsibilities

• Act as the design authority for Stacuity’s global network, translating requirements into robust, ultra‑high‑availability infrastructure.
• Author and deliver High‑Level Design (HLD) and Low‑Level Design (LLD) documentation for network projects.
• Design and evolve WAN, LAN, and Internet edge architecture, including routing, peering, transit, firewall zoning.
• Define network standards for routing, IP addressing, DNS, NAT, firewall zoning, and lifecycle management.
• Evaluate emerging network technologies (SD‑WAN, SDN) for fit with Stacuity’s platform.
• Be hands‑on: configure, build, and deploy networks alongside engineers.
• Lead network projects from design to successful deployment.
• Build and maintain BoMs for network projects, coordinating with procurement.
• Act as senior escalation point for complex incidents and drive permanent fixes.

Skills

CCNP level networking

IP routing at scale

Firewall and security design

High‑level/Low‑level design

Vendor management & peering

English communication

Leadership & mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

CCIE/JNCIE or equivalent

Tools

Proxmox

Prometheus

Grafana

Cisco IOS‑XE

Cisco NX‑OS

pfSense

Job description

About us

Stacuity is an innovative, ambitious, and rapidly growing company that provides cutting‑edge SaaS platforms to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), MVNOs, IoT Service Providers, Enterprise Connectivity Providers, and related industries. We have developed our own mobile core network and supporting platforms from the ground up, using a modern, state‑of‑the‑art architecture. Our globally distributed platform enables customers worldwide to manage and secure mobile connectivity for Enterprise and IoT markets.

Privately owned and headquartered in the Isle of Man, with a UK office, Stacuity was founded by industry veterans with a proven track record in business growth. To support our ongoing growth, we are expanding our integration and platform capability – offering a unique opportunity to join an exceptional, trusted, and valued team.

Summary of this job

As Principal Network Architect at Stacuity, you will be the senior design authority for our global IP network – the underlying connectivity fabric that carries traffic between our mobile core, our edge sites, and our customers and partners worldwide.

This is a role for someone equally comfortable at the whiteboard and in the rack. You will author the High‑Level and Low‑Level Designs that turn business and customer requirements into resilient, ultra‑high‑availability network infrastructure, and you will then roll your sleeves up and work alongside our engineers to see those designs through to live deployment. You will be the technical authority other engineers turn to when something needs to be designed right the first time, and the person who steps in when something needs fixing fast.

You will work across our global footprint of edge sites, data centres, and interconnects, with direct responsibility for routing, switching, and firewall architecture, and close involvement in how our network integrates with cloud and core platform infrastructure.

Key responsibilities – what you will do:

Design and architecture

• Act as the design authority for Stacuity’s global network, translating business and customer requirements into robust, ultra‑high‑availability infrastructure.
• Author and deliver High‑Level Design (HLD) and Low‑Level Design (LLD) documentation for network projects, guiding them through internal review and stakeholder approval.
• Design and evolve our global WAN, LAN, and Internet edge architecture, including routing strategy, peering and transit relationships, and firewall and segmentation policy.
• Define network standards covering routing, IP addressing, DNS, NAT, firewall zoning, and lifecycle management of network hardware and software.
• Evaluate emerging network technologies, including SD‑WAN and Software‑Defined Networking approaches, and assess their fit for Stacuity’s platform.

Hands‑on delivery

• Be hands‑on: work directly alongside engineers and the wider infrastructure team to configure, build, and deploy the networks you design, rather than handing designs over and stepping away.
• Lead network projects from a design perspective, ensuring technical deliverables are met with precision and coordinating successful deployment of new infrastructure.
• Build and maintain hardware Bills of Materials (BoM) for network projects, working with procurement and vendors as required.
• Act as a senior escalation point for complex network incidents, leading root‑cause analysis and driving permanent fixes within agreed timescales.

Leadership and collaboration

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to network and infrastructure engineers, helping resolve architectural issues and raising the standard of design across the team.
• Work closely with the platform, security, and development teams to ensure network architecture aligns with the needs of our mobile core and supporting platforms.
• Support our ISO 27001 information security programme, ensuring network designs and controls meet the relevant Annex A requirements.
• Communicate network strategy and project status clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.

Working pattern

• This role is primarily office hours based in our Isle of Man office, with remote working possible by agreement.
• Given the global nature of our network and customer base, some flexibility outside of core hours may occasionally be required to support deployments, change windows, or major incidents.
• Some travel to data centres, edge sites, and partner locations should be expected from time to time.

What you will bring:

Your Qualifications

• Minimum CCNP level (or equivalent) across major enterprise networking vendors - Essential
• Degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related discipline – Desirable (or demonstrable practical experience)
• Higher‑level vendor certification (e.g. CCIE, JNCIE, or equivalent) - Desirable
• Excellent written and spoken English - Essential

Your Experience and Skills

• Strong grounding in high‑availability and failover principles at both Layer 2 and Layer 3, with a proven track record of architecture and design delivery for ISP and enterprise routing, switching, and firewalls across global networks.
• Deep, practical expertise in IP routing at scale, including BGP (iBGP and eBGP) and IS‑IS, along with hands‑on experience managing external peering and transit relationships.
• Solid experience with tunnelling technologies such as GRE and VXLAN, and Layer 2 networking including HSRP/VRRP/VARP, VLANs and trunking, STP, and ARP/NDP.
• Working knowledge of VPN technologies and IPsec, and a security‑conscious approach to network design including ACLs and IDS/IDP.
• Hands‑on firewall configuration and management experience, including with virtualised firewalls such as pfSense, and design experience with next‑generation firewall platforms such as Palo Alto, Fortinet, or Checkpoint.
• Hands‑on configuration and troubleshooting experience across major networking vendors, with particular depth in Cisco ASR platforms (IOS‑XE) and Cisco Nexus platforms (NX‑OS); broader exposure to Juniper, HP, and Arista is also valued.
• Experience with SD‑WAN and interconnection fabrics, such as Equinix Fabric, Console Connect, or similar platforms.
• Experience with monitoring and observability tooling, such as Prometheus and Grafana, to support proactive network health and performance management.
• Extensive experience producing high-quality architectural designs, blueprints, and implementation plans for large‑scale, mission‑critical environments.
• Strong problem investigation, troubleshooting, and resolution skills, able to work through complex technical issues methodically and lead incident response for critical outages.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts and trade‑offs clearly to both engineers and non‑technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.
• Exposure to cloud networking, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, or hybrid cloud environments (desirable).
• Experience working with hypervisors and virtualisation, particularly Proxmox, along with SR‑IOV and virtual functions (desirable).
• Awareness of mobile core and mobile network concepts is an advantage, but not a prerequisite – we will support you in building this context.
• HPE server management, and Linux administration skills (Ubuntu) would also be an advantage

Your Behaviours

• Design‑quality mindset – takes pride in getting the architecture right, not just functional, and pushes back constructively where a design falls short of that bar - Essential
• Strong analytical thinking – approaches problems logically and is comfortable working through ambiguity - Essential
• Clear communicator – equally comfortable walking an engineer through a routing design and explaining the same trade‑offs to a non‑technical stakeholder - Essential
• Collaborative by nature – works well across engineering, platform, security, and commercial teams, building trust quickly - Essential
• Ownership mentality – takes responsibility for outcomes and follows through from design through to live deployment, including being there when things go wrong - Essential
• Curious and proactive – interested in how platforms and systems work end‑to‑end, and always looking to improve - Essential
• Continuous improvement mindset – consistently looks for ways to make the network more resilient, more efficient, and easier to operate - Essential
• Values aligned with Stacuity’s culture – ambitious, innovative, dependable, and supportive - Essential

Other

• Able to work flexible hours when required to meet the needs of the role - Essential
• Willing to undertake a DBS check - Essential
• Right to work in the Isle of Man or UK (visa sponsorship may be considered for exceptional candidates) - Essential
• IOM Worker - Desirable