Enterprise Security Systems Architect (Design & Pre-Construction)
Contract: 6 months +
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
- Overall 16+years and 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