Principal Network Architect

ntrs; Naperville (IL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Northern Trust in Naperville, IL is seeking a seasoned Network Architect to lead the design and implementation of the firm's global network. You will translate concepts into production, mentor engineers, and work with operations to ensure high availability and efficiency.

The role requires deep expertise in IP networking, routing protocols, data centers, and security, with a focus on modernizing and transforming network services.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, or the equivalent.
• 15+ years of experience designing IP networks and managing solutions, or 20+ years in IP networks with related services.
• 10+ years with routing protocols (BGP/OSPF/EIGRP); SD-WAN experience.
• 10+ years with Layer 2 protocols (vPC, STP, VRF, VLANs).
• 10+ years WAN/LAN and transport tech (MPLS, DWDM, Equinix Fabric).
• 10+ years with security technologies (IPsec, IKE, Kerberos, SSH, RADIUS, VPN).
• Core services: DNS, DHCP, NTP; QoS, NTP, AAA; strong troubleshooting.
• Ability to work under pressure in confidential environments.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement Northern Trust's global network and services.
• Lead design reviews and mentor engineering staff.
• Collaborate with operations to improve availability and efficiency.
• Proactively evaluate tools, techniques, and technologies for the network.
• Translate logical designs into physical designs considering capacity and performance.
• Provide escalation guidance for infrastructure and development teams.
• Serve as technical point of contact for on-call or off-hours support.

Skills

IP network design

BGP, OSPF, EIGRP

SD-WAN

Data center networking

Network security

Cisco/Nexus/Juniper/Arista

WAN/LAN transport

DNS/DHCP/NTP

Leadership/mentoring

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering / Telecommunication Engineering / Computer Science / CIS

Tools

Tufin

Job description

About Northern Trust

As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world's most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions.

Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide.

With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world's most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

The Network Architect will serve as the subject matter expert for architecting and implementing Northern Trust's global network, including the applications and services that run on top of it. This role will engage with various stakeholders and application teams in a solution-design capacity to help bring conceptual designs into production. The position also requires the ability to lead and mentor team members in the design, support, and engineering of the network while working with operations teams to improve system availability and efficiency.

The Network Architect will proactively research and evaluate tools, techniques, and technologies appropriate for the network environment while developing solutions to increase performance and availability, lower total cost of ownership, and modernize and transform network and service-delivery functions. This may include not only traditional network technologies, but also hosting strategies, resiliency and recovery strategies, security strategies, and data center and colocation strategies. The individual in this role is expected to stay abreast of industry trends, vendor offerings, technology innovation, and changing customer requirements to provide effective solutions aligned to business outcomes.

The Network Architect will translate logical or conceptual designs into physical designs, accounting for requirements, target environments, processes, performance needs, existing systems and services, and non-functional requirements such as capacity, availability, and performance. These designs should align with modernization and transformation roadmaps and initiatives to move the enterprise in the right direction. The Network Architect provides technical design guidance and strategic leadership to engineering and application teams and acts as the ultimate escalation point for network issues. The Network Architect also serves as the technical escalation point of contact for infrastructure teams, application development teams, and leadership.

This role will provide trouble resolution of the global network for escalated issues and may perform on-call duties and off-hours support when needed.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, or the equivalent of a four‑year accredited degree in a technical discipline.
• 15+ years of experience managing and designing solutions within an IP network with a four‑year Bachelor of Science degree, or 20+ years of relevant experience with IP networks and network services such as DNS, time services, NAC, security, IPS, load balancing, hosting, and data center strategies for colocation or data center migration.
• 10+ years of experience with routing protocols, including BGP, OSPF, and EIGRP. Experience with SD‑WAN.
• 10+ years of experience with Layer 2 protocols, including vPC, data center zones, Spanning Tree, VRF, VTP, VLANs, and physical cabling.
• 10+ years of experience with WAN/LAN and transport technologies, including vendor fabric interconnect technologies such as Ethernet, Frame Relay, MPLS, DWDM, and Equinix Fabric.
• 10+ years of working knowledge of security technologies, including IPsec, IKEv1 and IKEv2, Kerberos, SSH, RADIUS, TACACS+, VPDNs, PKI, AAA, and VPN using IPsec. Strong technical knowledge of network control protocols such as QoS, PoE, NTP, and DHCP; network management protocols such as CDP, FTP, TFTP, and SNMP; and security protocols such as SSH, HTTPS, AAA, IPsec, and TrustSec. Extensive experience with Cisco Catalyst and Nexus switching platforms, as well as Juniper MX routers, Aruba switches, and Arista switches.
• 10+ years of working knowledge of core network services such as DNS, DHCP, load balancing, NTP, NAC, authentication, and application solution design.
• In-depth implementation and troubleshooting experience with IP networks and the ability to think critically in high‑pressure, confidential environments.

You will have expert knowledge and experience in several of the following areas:

• NGFW platforms and management tools such as Tufin
• Network Access Control in enterprise environments
• Application delivery and load balancers
• Public and Private cloud security
• Workflow automat