VP, Network Solution Architect Lead

The Japan Research Institute, Limited (Singapore Branch); Singapore; On-site; SGD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

The Japan Research Institute, Limited (Singapore Branch) seeks a senior Network Architect to lead the APAC network architecture practice, define target-state architecture, and align multi-year roadmaps with enterprise direction. Translate business and technology strategies into practical network capabilities and implementation plans.

As senior design authority, you will drive secure, scalable network solutions, review designs, manage cross-domain dependencies, and ensure availability,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 10–15 years of enterprise networking experience.
• Experience designing large-scale, highly available solutions across data centre, campus, branch, WAN/SD‑WAN, Internet, cloud connectivity, wireless, and network security domains.
• Deep knowledge of routing and switching, BGP, OSPF, QoS, multicast, VPN, high availability, network segmentation, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, load balancing, and network access control.

Responsibilities

• Define target-state network architecture and multi-year technology roadmap.
• Lead requirements discovery and develop secure, resilient network solutions for projects and cloud adoption.
• Act as senior design authority for complex network initiatives and provide formal technical approvals.
• Own governance of reference architectures, design patterns, and engineering standards.
• Lead network delivery across projects, coordinating with cross-functional teams and vendors.
• Ensure changes comply with security, resilience, and operational requirements.
• Mentor engineers and promote architecture governance and best practices.
• Coordinate implementation readiness and handover with stakeholders.

Skills

Network architecture

Architecture leadership

Routing & Switching

BGP

OSPF

QoS

VPN

Load balancing

DNS/DHCP/IPAM

Security

Automation

Observability

SRE concepts

English communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/IT/Engineering/Telecommunications or related discipline

Tools

Cisco

Palo Alto Networks

Fortinet

F5

Meraki

Zscaler

Cisco ISE

Job description

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Lead the APAC network solution-architecture practice and define the target-state architecture, principles, standards, and multi-year technology roadmap in alignment with enterprise direction.

Translate business and technology strategies into practical network capabilities, transition architectures, investment priorities, and implementation sequencing.

Act as the senior design authority for complex or high‑risk network initiatives and provide clear technical recommendations, decisions, and escalation paths.

Identify opportunities to simplify and standardise the network estate, reduce technical debt, improve resilience, and enable automation and operational efficiency.

B. Solution Design & Technical Assurance

Lead requirements discovery and develop secure, resilient, scalable, and cost‑effective network solutions for projects, programmes, application onboarding, site changes, cloud adoption, and technology refresh.

Own or assure high‑level designs, low‑level design principles, architecture decision records, option assessments, bills of material, migration approaches, test strategies, and implementation guardrails.

Ensure each solution addresses availability, capacity, performance, security, segmentation, manageability, observability, disaster recovery, lifecycle, and operational support requirements.

Conduct design reviews, challenge assumptions and exceptions, resolve cross‑domain dependencies, and provide formal technical approval or remediation conditions before implementation.

Provide architecture leadership across routing and switching, data centre networking, campus and branch networks, WAN/SD‑WAN, Internet gateways, wireless, remote access, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, and network management.

Design integrated network‑security solutions covering firewalls, segmentation, VPN, secure web access, network access control, privileged administration, logging, and policy enforcement.

Define connectivity patterns for public cloud, private cloud, SaaS, partner, market, and third‑party services, including routing, security, resilience, and traffic‑flow requirements.

Guide application delivery and traffic‑management architecture, including load balancing, global traffic management, proxy services, certificate dependencies, and service health monitoring.

D. Governance, Standards & Compliance

Establish and maintain reference architectures, approved design patterns, engineering standards, configuration principles, technology standards, and reusable architecture templates.

Embed security‑by‑design, least privilege, defence in depth, segregation, auditability, and regulatory requirements into solution architecture and decision‑making.

Support risk assessments, exception requests, audit responses, control evidence, and remediation planning with clear technical rationale, ownership, compensating controls, and target‑state direction.

Ensure solutions comply with enterprise architecture, information security, change management, lifecycle, data handling, and applicable regional regulatory requirements.

E. Project Delivery, Implementation & Stakeholder Leadership

Own and drive the network workstream across the full project lifecycle, from initiation, requirements, solution design, planning, and procurement through build, testing, migration, implementation, stabilisation, handover, and project closure.

Develop and maintain the network delivery plan, key milestones, dependencies, resource requirements, implementation sequencing, acceptance criteria, and technical deliverables in coordination with project managers and workstream leads.

Provide hands‑on leadership during implementation, ensuring engineers and vendors execute the approved design, follow engineering standards, complete required evidence, and resolve technical issues without compromising security, resilience, or quality.

Drive implementation readiness reviews, confirming prerequisites such as approved designs, hardware and licensing, circuit readiness, security approvals, change records, test plans, rollback procedures, support coverage, communications, and stakeholder sign‑off.

Coordinate build, configuration, integration, testing, migration, cutover, and validation activities across Network Operations, RNOC, Security, Infrastructure, Cloud, Applications, service providers, and business stakeholders.

Track and communicate delivery status, technical risks, issues, decisions, dependencies, scope changes, and recovery actions; escalated material concerns early and drive accountable owners to closure.

Ensure project changes comply with change‑management requirements and that implementation outcomes are validated against design, performance, resilience, security, monitoring, and business acceptance criteria.

Lead post‑implementation validation and stabilisation, ensure defects and residual risks are documented and remediated, and confirm complete operational handover before project closure.

Lead technical evaluation of products, services, proposals, and proofs of concept, ensuring that selections align with architecture standards, support strategy, security requirements, and total cost considerations.

Work with procurement and vendors to validate solution scope, licensing, sizing, supportability, interoperability, lifecycle, delivery assumptions, and contractual technical commitments.

Maintain awareness of industry developments and vendor roadmaps, assessing their relevance, maturity, risks, and potential value to the APAC network strategy.

Prevent unnecessary vendor lock‑in and solution sprawl by promoting open integration, reusable capability, standard platforms, and disciplined exception management.

G. Implementation Readiness & Operational Acceptance

Define architecture acceptance criteria and ensure designs include monitoring, logging, capacity thresholds, backup, fail‑over, support access, documentation, and recovery requirements.

Assure implementation plans, migration methods, rollback strategies, test cases, fail‑over tests, and operational handover deliverables for major or high‑risk changes.

Partner with Network Operations, RNOC, service management, and engineering teams to confirm support readiness, ownership, runbooks, training, spares, vendor support, and escalation arrangements.

Use lessons from incidents, problems, changes, performance trends, and operational feedback to improve architecture standards and future solution designs.

H. Team Leadership & Capability Development

Lead, mentor, and develop network solution architects and senior engineers, setting clear technical expectations and promoting consistent architecture and documentation quality.

Chair or contribute to architecture and design‑review forums, ensuring decisions are evidence‑based, traceable, and aligned with agreed principles.

Build reusable knowledge through design patterns, templates, decision records, lessons learned, and technical communities of practice across APAC.

Promote a collaborative engineering culture that values simplification, automation, security, operational ownership, constructive challenge, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications & Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Telecommunications, or a related discipline.

Minimum 10–15 years of experience in enterprise networking, including significant experience in network solution architecture, technical design authority, or architecture leadership roles.

Demonstrable experience designing large‑scale, highly available solutions across data centre, campus, branch, WAN/SD‑WAN, Internet, cloud connectivity, wireless, and network security domains.

Deep knowledge of routing and switching, BGP, OSPF, QoS, multicast, VPN, high availability, network segmentation, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, load balancing, and network access control.

Strong experience with enterprise technologies such as Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, F5, Meraki, Zscaler, and Cisco ISE, or equivalent platforms.

Experience integrating networks with public cloud, SaaS, identity, security, monitoring, ITSM, and automation platforms.

Strong architecture‑method, requirements‑analysis, option‑assessment, technical‑governance, risk‑management, and design‑documentation capabilities.

Working knowledge of automation, APIs, Infrastructure as Code, configuration management, observability, and Site Reliability Engineering principles is highly desirable.

Proven ability to lead architects and senior engineers, influence cross‑functional stakeholders, manage technical conflict, and communicate effectively with senior management.

Experience in banking, financial services, or another regulated environment preferred; knowledge of MAS TRM and relevant regional regulations is advantageous.

Practical knowledge of project governance, change control, implementation readiness, financial and commercial tracking, resource planning, and delivery reporting.

Ability to manage technical delivery across internal engineering teams, service providers, vendors, project managers, and business stakeholders, with clear ownership of risks, issues, decisions, scope, quality, and delivery outcomes.

Proven experience leading network project delivery and implementation across multiple countries or sites, including planning, dependency management, testing, migration, cutover, stabilisation, and operational handover.

Preferred certifications include CCNP/CCIE or equivalent architecture certification, cloud‑networking certification, vendor security certification, and ITIL.

Excellent written and verbal English, with the ability to produce clear architecture documents, executive recommendations, technical standards, and governance decisions.