Senior Network Architect

Managed Solution; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Managed Solution, a leading IT services provider headquartered in San Diego, seeks a Senior Network Architect to design, implement, and optimize complex multi-site networks across manufacturing, life sciences, and healthcare sectors. This hybrid role combines sales collaboration, architecture, and hands-on delivery.

You will mentor engineers, create runbooks and documentation, and drive network modernization initiatives using Fortinet, Palo Alto, Meraki, and cloud networking.

Qualifications

• Senior Network Architect with extensive SD-WAN, firewall, and VPN experience across multi-site environments.
• Experience guiding networks for manufacturing, life sciences, and healthcare clients with complex compliance needs.
• Ability to mentor engineers, build runbooks, and produce architecture documentation.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Sales and Presales to scope and architect network and security solutions (SD-WAN, firewall, LAN/WLAN, remote access, data center, cloud networking).
• Create architecture designs, target-state topologies, roadmaps, and maturity assessments for client leadership.
• Translate work into Statements of Work and ROM estimates with risks and hours breakdowns.
• Present recommendations and trade-offs to technical and executive audiences.
• Lead network deployment projects, migrations, site rollouts, and change controls.

Skills

SD-WAN design

Firewall design

LAN/WLAN

ZTNA / Zero Trust

Data center networking

Cloud networking

Mentoring

Tools

FortiManager

FortiAnalyzer

Panorama

Meraki Dashboard

Job description

We are laser focused on delivering quality and excellence to our clients for their technology modernization needs, business and technology strategy, and cloud transformation initiatives. We are a nationally recognized Microsoft Partner of the Year and the largest, leading IT service provider headquartered in San Diego. As a Top 1% Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, with engineers that individually hold over 38 Microsoft certifications, our clients trust us because we are the experts!

The value you bring:

As one of the senior-most networking voices across Managed Solution’s largest managed network clients, including multi-site manufacturers, life-sciences and healthcare organizations with dozens of locations, cloud hubs, and regulated environments, the Senior Network Architect works across the full solution lifecycle. This is a hybrid role by design: the Senior Network Architect helps sell the right solution, designs it, builds it, and fixes it when it breaks, partnering with Sales and Presales to scope and architect network and security solutions, then implementing, remediating, and resolving escalated break/fix issues. Equally important, this role raises the capability of the whole team by mentoring and training existing network engineers across the One Technical Team (managed and professional services teams), to include building documentation (diagrams, runbooks, inventories, and procedures) that gives every engineer what they need to succeed in a client’s environment. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable whiteboarding a target-state SD-WAN design with a client’s IT director, troubleshooting a down IPsec tunnel at 7 a.m., and walking a junior engineer through why it happened. The Senior Network Architect will be responsible for the following:

What you’ll do:

• Partners with Sales, Presales, and Account Management to run technical discovery, assess current-state networks, and design fit-for-purpose solutions (SD-WAN, firewalls, LAN/WLAN, remote access/ZTNA, data center, and cloud networking).
• Produces architecture designs, target-state topologies, multi-phase roadmaps, and network maturity assessments for client leadership.
• Scopes work into Statements of Work and Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimates, including tiered per-site estimating, assumptions, risks, and hours breakdowns.
• Presents recommendations and trade-offs (for example, vendor platform migrations, hub placement, and circuit diversity) to technical and executive audiences.
• Evaluates vendor platforms and lifecycle status (end-of-life/end-of-support hardware and software) and recommends refresh paths.

Implementation + Migration

• Leads and executes network projects, including firewall and SD-WAN migrations (including Palo Alto to Fortinet), site rollouts built from standard templates, data center moves and vacates, subnet and routing migrations, load balancer migrations, and wireless/LAN refreshes.
• Builds and maintains centrally managed configurations using FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer, Panorama, and the Meraki Dashboard, driving consistent policy packages and site templates.
• Plans maintenance windows, change controls, and cutover and rollback plans, and coordinates with carriers, ISPs, SASE providers, and client application teams during changes.
• Implements remote access and Zero Trust solutions (FortiClient/EMS, IPsec and SSL VPN with SAML/MFA, and ZTNA) integrated with Microsoft Entra ID and Duo.
• Serves as the senior-most escalation point for complex network incidents across managed clients, including WAN and tunnel outages, failover failures, routing issues, performance and throughput problems, wireless issues, and VPN/certificate problems – including requirement to perform occasional work outside of normal business hours as needed to successfully manage critical network incidents and ensure the success of scheduled outages, maintenances, and cutovers
• Performs root-cause analysis, writes clear RCAs with corrective actions, and drives stabilization plans for unstable environments.
• Troubleshoots application-impacting network issues (for example, clinical imaging/PACS traffic and RDS and ERP access over WAN) alongside client and vendor teams.
• Works vendor and carrier support cases through to resolution (Fortinet, Palo Alto, Cisco/Meraki, Aryaka, and ISPs/circuit providers).
• Participates in an after-hours escalation and maintenance-window rotation in support of Managed Solution’s 24x7 managed services.

Documentation + Knowledge Management

• Owns the “map” for key client environments, including network diagrams (Visio), site topologies, IP/VLAN/subnet records, master device lists, tunnel and peer inventories, circuit records, and routing documentation.
• Creates and maintains client network runbooks, standard operating procedures, configuration standards, naming conventions, and change procedures so that any engineer can support the environment.
• Keeps documentation current as sites are built, migrated, or changed, and reconciles naming and inventory across management, monitoring (LogicMonitor), and ticketing (ConnectWise) systems.
• Produces client-facing deliverables, including architecture design documents, as-built documentation, end-user guides, and handover packages.

Technical Leadership, Mentoring, Training + Team Enablement

• Acts as technical lead for Networking-focused resources across the One Technical Team, including Senior Network Security Engineers, Project/Network Engineers, and Network Support Specialist, L2 positions.
• Mentors and coaches existing network engineers (L1–L3), raising their troubleshooting, design, and documentation skills through shadowing, paired work, and structured reviews.
• Delivers internal training sessions and lab walkthroughs on core technologies (FortiGate/SD-WAN, BGP/OSPF, IPsec, Meraki, and wireless) and on client environments.
• Defines and publishes team standards, including reference designs, build templates, peer review of changes, and escalation playbooks.
• Supports certification plans for team members and helps shape the networking skills roadmap for Professional and Managed Services.

Performance + Compliance

• Complies with all company and departmental policies and procedures and maintains strict client confidentiality.
• Consistently models the One Technical Team Pillars of Excellence: Accountability, Utilization, and Engagement.
• Performs other, related projects and duties as assigned.

Requirements

What makes you