Senior SD-WAN & Enterprise Networking Architect

Cognizant; Annapolis (MD); Remote; USD 99,000 - 114,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

Paid holidays plus PTO

401(k) plan and contributions

Long-term/Short-term Disability

Paid Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Senior Network Engineer specializing in Cisco SD-WAN, Meraki, and Viptela to design and modernize secure enterprise networks across distributed environments. You will architect scalable solutions that support hybrid work and global operations with minimal disruption.

You will collaborate with security, cloud, application, and delivery teams to ensure reliable connectivity, performance, and security. This role offers remote options within the U.S.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience with enterprise routing and switching and network segmentation.
• 10+ years designing, implementing, or optimizing SD-WAN in complex enterprise environments.
• 5–10 years with Cisco Meraki SD-WAN architecture, policy design, traffic optimization, and branch connectivity.
• 5+ years with Juniper in enterprise networks.
• Strong hands-on experience with Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Viptela control, data, and management planes.
• Deep understanding of network security, segmentation, secure tunneling and enterprise policies.
• Experience supporting hybrid work, branch connectivity, remote access, and cloud connectivity.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with logs, packet analysis and monitoring tools.
• Excellent communication to present designs and tradeoffs to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design scalable SD-WAN solutions using Cisco Meraki for secure connectivity across locations.
• Architect Cisco SD-WAN and Viptela to support application-aware routing and multi-link usage.
• Define end-to-end network architectures integrating SD-WAN, switching, routing, and security for hybrid work.
• Design and optimize campus, branch, and data center routing/switching for availability and performance.
• Review existing topologies and traffic to improve availability and reduce incidents.
• Create high/low level design docs, diagrams, and migration plans.
• Collaborate with security, cloud, app, and operations to align with security policies.
• Provide guidance during incidents and troubleshooting for SD-WAN and network performance.
• Conduct capacity planning to validate bandwidth and plan upgrades.
• Mentor teams on SD-WAN design, configuration, and troubleshooting.

Skills

Networking design

SD-WAN design

Cisco Meraki

Viptela

Juniper

Security fundamentals

Hybrid work support

Troubleshooting

Communication

Capacity planning

Tools

Cisco Meraki

Viptela

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Switching/Routing

Job description

Cognizant is seeking a Senior Network Engineer specializing in Cisco SD-WAN, Meraki, and Viptela to design and modernize secure enterprise networks across distributed environments. You will architect scalable solutions that support hybrid work and global operations with minimal disruption.

You will collaborate with security, cloud, application, and delivery teams to ensure reliable connectivity, performance, and security. This role offers remote options within the U.S.