Lead Network Architect

Lead Network Architect – Data Centre & Connectivity (Permanent)

Location: UK (Hybrid)

We are working with a specialist technology consultancy seeking a Lead Network Architect.

This is a senior, hands-on architecture role focused on designing and delivering large-scale data centre and connectivity solutions across network, compute, storage and security environments. The position would suit an experienced Network Architect who still enjoys technical problem solving, implementation work, testing new technologies and owning solutions end-to-end. The environment is highly technical and engineering-led, with a strong focus on innovation, resilience, scalability and continuous improvement.

The Role:

You will lead the design and delivery of enterprise and data centre connectivity solutions across a range of client environments and industries. Projects will involve a mixture of architecture, technical leadership, lab validation, proof of concept work and hands-on implementation.

You will work closely with engineering, security, compute, storage and automation teams to deliver highly available, mission-critical infrastructure solutions.

Key responsibilities include:

• Designing and implementing modern data centre network architectures

• Leading end-to-end connectivity solution design across network, compute, storage and security

• Producing high-level and low-level technical designs

• Designing resilient global and inter-data centre connectivity solutions

• Hands-on implementation and configuration within production environments

• Researching, testing and validating new technologies and features

• Supporting proof of concept and lab environments

• Working across multi-vendor infrastructure, including Cisco, Arista, Fortinet and Palo Alto

• Troubleshooting complex networking and infrastructure issues

• Collaborating with automation teams to support Infrastructure as Code and templated deployments

• Supporting solution justification and creation of Bills of Materials

Key Requirements:

• Strong background in enterprise or data centre networking

• 10+ years of networking experience

• CCIE, CCDE or equivalent expert-level networking expertise

• Strong hands-on EVPN/VXLAN experience within production environments

• Experience designing highly available, resilient network architectures

• Strong understanding of data centre networking principles, including leaf-spine architectures

• Experience working across network security and load balancing technologies

• Comfortable working in complex, multi-vendor environments

• Experience operating within high-performance or mission-critical environments

• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills

• Ability to own solutions from design through to implementation

The Ideal Profile:

The successful candidate will be architecture-focused but remain highly hands-on technically. You will be naturally curious, enjoy learning new technologies and be comfortable testing and validating solutions in lab and production environments. This role would particularly suit individuals from high-end consultancy, financial services, trading, enterprise infrastructure or large-scale data centre environments.

If you would be interested in discussing further, please apply directly or contact me for a confidential conversation.