Lead Infrastructure Architect

Kennesaw State University; Kennesaw (GA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Kennesaw State University in Georgia seeks an experienced individual to define and own the enterprise network and infrastructure architecture strategy. The role involves aligning with business objectives and providing technical leadership across various environments. Candidates should possess a Bachelor's in a relevant field and have at least 7 years of enterprise-scale experience.

Preferred certifications include industry standards such as Cisco CCNP. This position emphasizes collaboration, architectural governance, and innovative technology trends.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution of higher education.
• Seven years of experience in enterprise-scale network and infrastructure environments.
• Preferred industry certifications like Cisco CCNP or AWS Advanced Networking.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain network and infrastructure architecture roadmap.
• Design physical infrastructure standards and lead capacity planning.
• Provide architectural oversight and governance for infrastructure projects.

Skills

Ability to translate business requirements into scalable technical architecture solutions

Strong vendor evaluation and contract negotiation skills

Experience with routing and switching in enterprise networks

Knowledge of disaster recovery and business continuity planning

Problem solving and project management skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field

Tools

Infrastructure as code tools

Microsoft Office suite

Job description

About Us

Are you ready to transform lives through academic excellence, innovative research, strong community partnerships and economic opportunity? Kennesaw State University is one of the 50 largest public institutions in the country. With growing enrollment and global reach, we continue to expand our institutional influence and prominence beyond the state of Georgia. We offer more than 190 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to empower over 50,000 students to become thought leaders, lifelong learners, and informed global citizens. Our entrepreneurial spirit, high-impact research, and Division I athletics draw students from throughout the region and from more than 100 countries across the globe. Our university's vibrant culture, career opportunities, rich benefits, and values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity, and accountability make us an employer of choice. We are part of the University System of Georgia. We are searching for talented people to join Kennesaw State University in our vision. Come Take Flight at KSU!

Location

Primary Location for Job Responsibilities: Our Kennesaw campus is located at 1000 Chastain Road NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144.

Our Marietta campus is located at 1100 South Marietta Parkway, Marietta, GA 30060.

Job Summary

Is responsible for defining and owning the long‑term enterprise network and infrastructure architecture strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives, capacity planning, and emerging technology trends. This role provides architectural governance, resiliency planning, and technical leadership across on premises, hybrid, and cloud‑connected infrastructure environments. This position collaborates closely with engineering, cybersecurity, and cloud teams to ensure scalable, secure, and highly available infrastructure solutions.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the long‑term network and infrastructure architecture roadmap aligned with business strategy, scalability, and capacity planning objectives.
• Design and govern physical infrastructure standards including data centers, cabling, rack layouts, power distribution, and hardware placement.
• Lead capacity planning and performance engineering to ensure infrastructure meets current and future demand with redundancy and failover.
• Lead network modeling, simulation, and validation activities to ensure design integrity and reduce deployment risk.
• Design and maintain high‑availability, disaster recovery, and business continuity network architectures.
• Evaluate and manage strategic vendors, carriers, and service providers to ensure architectural alignment and cost efficiency.
• Develop and maintain high‑level and low‑level design documentation and reference architectures.
• Provide architectural oversight and governance for infrastructure projects to ensure adherence to approved standards and designs.
• Partners with cybersecurity teams to embed security architecture principles including segmentation, zero trust, and compliance requirements.
• Drive infrastructure automation initiatives using infrastructure as code and configuration management tools.
• Lead root cause analysis and post‑incident reviews, translating findings into architectural improvements.
• Define, track, and report on infrastructure KPIs and SLOs for reliability, latency, and availability.
• Guide integration of on‑premises infrastructure with cloud and hybrid connectivity models.
• Evaluate emerging technologies such as SD‑WAN, SASE, EVPN/VXLAN, and high‑speed fabrics for enterprise adoption.
• Provide mentorship and architectural leadership to senior engineers and technical teams.
• Support audits and compliance activities by ensuring infrastructure designs meet regulatory and policy requirements.
• Contribute to budget planning, lifecycle management, and cost optimization initiatives.

Required Qualifications

Educational Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution of higher education, preferably in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience.

Required Experience

Seven (7) years of experience designing, supporting, and architecting enterprise‑scale network and infrastructure environments.

Preferred Qualifications

Industry certifications such as Cisco CCNP or CCIE, AWS Advanced Networking, Microsoft Azure Network Engineer, CompTIA Network+, or ITIL.

Preferred Educational Qualifications

An advanced degree from an accredited institution of higher learning in a related field.

Preferred Experience

Experience with hybrid cloud connectivity, private circuits, and high‑availability enterprise network designs.

Demonstrated experience leading architectural reviews, standards development, and infrastructure governance.

Experience mentoring senior engineers or architects in complex enterprise environments.

Abilities

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Ability to translate business requirements into scalable technical architecture solutions.

Able to handle multiple tasks or projects at one time meeting assigned deadlines.

Knowledge

Extensive knowledge of enterprise network architectures, data center design, and infrastructure resiliency models.

Strong experience with routing, switching, WAN, and fabric‑based architectures in large‑scale environments.

Proficiency in infrastructure automation, orchestration, and configuration management methodologies.

Deep understanding of high‑availability, disaster recovery, and business continuity planning.

Experience integrating on‑premises infrastructure with public and private cloud connectivity solutions.

Skills

Strong vendor evaluation, contract negotiation, and lifecycle management skills.

Excellent interpersonal, initiative, teamwork, problem solving, independent judgment, organization, communication (verbal and written), time management, project management and presentation skills.

Proficient with computer applications and programs associated with the position (i.e., Microsoft Office suite).

Strong attention to detail and follow‑up skills.

Strong customer service skills and phone and e‑mail etiquette.

USG Core Values

The University System of Georgia is comprised of our 25 institutions of higher education and learning as well as the System Office. Our USG Statement of Core Values are Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect. These values serve as the foundation for all that we do as an organization, and each USG community member is responsible for demonstrating and upholding these standards. More details on the USG Statement of Core Values and Code of Conduct are available in USG Board Policy 8.2.18.1.2 and can be found on‑line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/C224/#p8.2.18_personnel_conduct.

Additionally, USG supports Freedom of Expression as stated in Board Policy 6.5 Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom found on‑line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section6/C2653.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Kennesaw State University is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to maintaining a fair and respectful environment for living, work and study. To that end, and in accordance with federal and state law, Board of Regents policy, and University policy, the University prohibits harassment of or discrimination against any person because of race, color, sex (including sexual harassment, pregnancy, and medical conditions related to pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity or national origin, religion, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran or military status by any member of the KSU Community on campus, in connection with a University program or activity, or in a manner that creates a hostile environment for members of the KSU community.

For additional information on this policy, or to file a complaint under the provisions of this policy, students, employees, applicants for employment or admission or other third parties should contact the Office of Institutional Equity at English Building, Suite 225, [e-mail].

Other Information

This is not a supervisory position.

This position does not have any financial responsibilities.

This position will not be required to drive.

This role is considered a position of trust.

This position does not require a purchasing card (P‑Card).

This position may travel 1% - 24% of the time.

Background Check

• Credit Report
• Standard Enhanced
• Education

Per the University System of Georgia background check policy, all final candidates will be required to consent to a criminal background investigation. Final candidates may be asked to disclose criminal record history during the initial screening process and prior to a conditional offer of employment. Applicants for positions of trust with screening results which confirm a disqualifying criminal history will be immediately disqualified from employment eligibility.

All applicants are required to include professional references as part of their application process. Some positions may require additional job‑based screenings such as motor vehicle report, credit check, pre‑employment drug screening and/or verification of academic credentials.

https://www.usg.edu/hr/assets/hr/hrap_manual/HRAP_Background_Investigation_Employment.pdf