Senior Network Architect, Edge & VNF Leadership

Equinix, Inc.; Tampa (FL); On-site; USD 224,000 - 336,000; Full time

Job summary

Equinix, Inc. is seeking a Distinguished Engineer to define the long-term network architecture for Network Edge and to guide engineering directions for VNF platforms.

You will lead cross‑functional collaboration with Product, Strategy, and Operations, and you will be the primary technical liaison for strategic customers. The role emphasizes deep expertise in large-scale networks, cloud-native environments, and open standards, with a focus on scalable, resilient designs and high-performance

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in network engineering and high-performance architecture for commercial products.
• Strong ability to influence technical direction across engineering, product, and operations.
• Experience engaging with enterprise or carrier-grade customers as a technical advisor.

Responsibilities

• Define and own multi-year network architecture vision for Network Edge.
• Lead architecture for high-throughput VNF enablement and dual-Data Center connectivity.
• Establish design patterns and standards for VNFs, overlay networking, and performance tuning.
• Identify and resolve architectural gaps across the Network Edge platform.
• Drive performance engineering for VNFs (DPDK, SR-IOV, CPU pinning).
• Engage with product, engineering and strategy to define roadmaps and feasibility.

Skills

Network architecture

SDN/NFV

VNF performance tuning

Routing protocols (BGP/OSPF/IS-IS)

Cloud and multi-site networking

Cross-functional leadership

Education

CCIE certification

Tools

Kubernetes networking

Virtualization platforms

Job description

Equinix, Inc. is seeking a Distinguished Engineer to define the long-term network architecture for Network Edge and to guide engineering directions for VNF platforms.

You will lead cross‑functional collaboration with Product, Strategy, and Operations, and you will be the primary technical liaison for strategic customers. The role emphasizes deep expertise in large-scale networks, cloud-native environments, and open standards, with a focus on scalable, resilient designs and high-performance