Principal Network Architect

Stacuity

Principal Network Architect at Stacuity for global IP network design, overseeing deployment and integration. Leading architectural projects and providing technical mentorship to network engineers.

Posted 7/2/2026full-timeIsle of Man • Isle of ManLeadWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSAzureCloudDNSFirewallsGrafanaiOSLinuxPrometheusSwitching

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Act as the design authority for Stacuity’s global network, translating business and customer requirements into robust, ultra-high-availability infrastructure.
Author and deliver High-Level Design (HLD) and Low-Level Design (LLD) documentation for network projects, guiding them through internal review and stakeholder approval.
Design and evolve our global WAN, LAN, and Internet edge architecture, including routing strategy, peering and transit relationships, and firewall and segmentation policy.
Define network standards covering routing, IP addressing, DNS, NAT, firewall zoning, and lifecycle management of network hardware and software.
Evaluate emerging network technologies, including SD-WAN and Software-Defined Networking approaches, and assess their fit for Stacuity’s platform.
Work directly alongside engineers and the wider infrastructure team to configure, build, and deploy the networks you design, rather than handing designs over and stepping away.
Lead network projects from a design perspective, ensuring technical deliverables are met with precision and coordinating successful deployment of new infrastructure.
Build and maintain hardware Bills of Materials (BoM) for network projects, working with procurement and vendors as required.
Act as a senior escalation point for complex network incidents, leading root-cause analysis and driving permanent fixes within agreed timescales.
Provide technical leadership and mentorship to network and infrastructure engineers, helping resolve architectural issues and raising the standard of design across the team.
Work closely with the platform, security, and development teams to ensure network architecture aligns with the needs of our mobile core and supporting platforms.
Support our ISO 27001 information security programme, ensuring network designs and controls meet the relevant Annex A requirements.
Communicate network strategy and project status clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Minimum CCNP level (or equivalent) across major enterprise networking vendors - Essential
Degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related discipline – Desirable (or demonstrable practical experience)
Higher-level vendor certification (e.g. CCIE, JNCIE, or equivalent) - Desirable
Excellent written and spoken English - Essential
Strong grounding in high-availability and failover principles at both Layer 2 and Layer 3, with a proven track record of architecture and design delivery for ISP and enterprise routing, switching, and firewalls across global networks.
Deep, practical expertise in IP routing at scale, including BGP (iBGP and eBGP) and IS-IS, along with hands-on experience managing external peering and transit relationships.
Solid experience with tunnelling technologies such as GRE and VXLAN, and Layer 2 networking including HSRP/VRRP/VARP, VLANs and trunking, STP, and ARP/NDP.
Working knowledge of VPN technologies and IPsec, and a security-conscious approach to network design including ACLs and IDS/IDP.
Hands-on firewall configuration and management experience, including with virtualised firewalls such as pfSense, and design experience with next-generation firewall platforms such as Palo Alto, Fortinet, or Checkpoint.
Hands-on configuration and troubleshooting experience across major networking vendors, with particular depth in Cisco ASR platforms (IOS-XE) and Cisco Nexus platforms (NX-OS); broader exposure to Juniper, HP, and Arista is also valued.
Experience with SD-WAN and interconnection fabrics, such as Equinix Fabric, Console Connect, or similar platforms.
Experience with monitoring and observability tooling, such as Prometheus and Grafana, to support proactive network health and performance management.
Extensive experience producing high-quality architectural designs, blueprints, and implementation plans for large-scale, mission-critical environments.
Strong problem investigation, troubleshooting, and resolution skills, able to work through complex technical issues methodically and lead incident response for critical outages.
Ability to communicate technical concepts and trade-offs clearly to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.
Exposure to cloud networking, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, or hybrid cloud environments (desirable).
Experience working with hypervisors and virtualisation, particularly Proxmox, along with SR-IOV and virtual functions (desirable).
Awareness of mobile core and mobile network concepts is an advantage, but not a prerequisite – we will support you in building this context. HPE server management, and Linux administration skills (Ubuntu) would also be an advantage

Benefits

Comp & perks

Flexible working possible by agreement
Some travel to data centres, edge sites, and partner locations should be expected from time to time

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

High-Level Design (HLD)Low-Level Design (LLD)IP AddressingRouting StrategyTunneling Technologies (GRE, VXLAN)VPN Technologies (IPsec)Network Monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana)Cloud Networking (AWS, Azure)Linux Administration (Ubuntu)Virtualization (Proxmox)

Soft Skills

Technical LeadershipCommunication SkillsProblem-SolvingMentorshipStakeholder Engagement

Certifications

CCNPCCIE (Desirable)JNCIE (Desirable)