Network Architect

Job Title: Network Architect / Senior Network Engineer

Job Type: 6 months (with possibility of extension)

Location: Hybrid – Austin Metropolitan area

Salary Range: $60-$75 an hour

Job Description:

We are seeking an experienced Network Architect / Senior Network Engineer (Contract) to support a large-scale migration from a legacy network architecture to Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) for one of our clients. Including pre-routing changes as preparation for ACI. This role is highly hands‑on and focused on design support, migration and test planning, execution support, network and services validations, and troubleshooting during the transition.

The person is expected to participate in Change Management and CAB meetings, presenting documentation and other support material. The ideal candidate has deep ACI expertise, strong routing fundamentals, and real‑world experience migrating networks and routing protocols with minimal impact. The candidate must live in the Austin‑Leander‑Johnson City area or within 2 hrs. drive.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the migration of legacy Layer 2/Layer 3 network infrastructure to Cisco ACI.
• Support the integration of ACI to SD-WAN
  .
• Design support, validate, and implement ACI fabrics
  , including:
  Tenants, VRFs, Bridge Domains, EPGs, Contracts, filters, and policy models & External connectivity (L3
  
  Outs,L2
  
  Outs)
• Plan and execute network migrations with minimal downtime
  , including:
  Brownfield ACI deployment & Phased cutovers and rollback strategies
• Design, implement, and migrate routing protocols
  , including:
  BGP, OSPF, EIGRP
• Migrations between routing protocols (e.g., EIGRP, OSPF or BGP)
• Integrate ACI with existing enterprise networks
  , firewalls, WAN/SDWAN, and data center services.
• Perform hands‑on configuration, validation, and troubleshooting during and after migration windows.
• Support change management, documentation, and operational handoff.
• Collaborate with internal network, systems, applications and security teams.
• Provide guidance and best practices for ACI operations post‑migration.
• Weekly ACI operational overview sessions with Network Team.
• Documentation of key troubleshooting workflows or SOPs, tailored for the newly implemented network.
• Validate and deliver final ACI detailed diagram in Visio or other company approved program.
• Document with lessons learned during the project.

Required Qualifications

• Strong hands‑on experience with Cisco ACI (5+ years preferred)
• Proven experience with network migrations, especially:
  
  Legacy to ACI & Routing protocol transitions
• Deep knowledge of routing protocols: BGP (iBGP/eBGP, route‑maps, redistribution), OSPF (multi‑area design, redistribution) and EIGRP(redistribution)
• Strong understanding of:
  Layer 2 & Layer 3 networking, VRFs, route leaking, redistribution strategies & Data center network design principles
• Experience configuring and troubleshooting:
  Cisco Nexus platforms, ACI spines, leaves, and APIC
• Ability to work in a team environment under the guidance of the lead Network Architect, and under the Network Operations Manager supervision.
• Strong documentation and communication skills

Preferred / Nice‑to‑Have Skills

• Experience with brownfield ACI migrations
• ACI Multi‑Pod or Multi‑Site experience
• Experience integrating ACI with:
• Firewalls (Cisco)
• Cisco certifications (CCNP, CCIE, or ACI‑specific certifications)

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• The employee may be required to stand; reach with hands and arms, stoop and kneel
• The employee may be required to sit or stand for long periods of time
• The employee may be required to lift, carry, push, pull or move up to 25 pounds
• The employee may be required to commute between Austin, Johnson City, Marble Falls, and Leander, TX.
• This position may be required to work more than 40 hours per week

Benefit offerings available for our associates include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short‑term disability, additional…