Senior Network Architect | Chicago, IL (Hybrid – Local Candidates Only)

• StarTekk’s adoption of Digital Transformation is to accelerate organizational growth, increase efficiencies and help Star Workforce achieve focused business goals. The Employee will help our organization to identify and bridge the gap that exists in the business by analyzing the data, scale and support digital transformation initiatives.

We are looking for a highly experienced Senior Network Architect with strong hands-on expertise in enterprise data center networking, Cisco routing and switching, SD-WAN, and hybrid cloud connectivity. The ideal candidate will have 10+ years of experience implementing, migrating, managing, and troubleshooting complex enterprise network infrastructures.

Key Responsibilities :

• Implement, migrate, optimize, and troubleshoot Cisco Nexus and Catalyst network environments.
• Design and support enterprise routing, switching, WAN, and SD-WAN infrastructure.
• Implement and troubleshoot hybrid cloud connectivity using Azure ExpressRoute and AWS Direct Connect.
• Lead complex network deployments and migrations across global data centers, colocation facilities, and enterprise locations.
• Provide Tier 3 technical support and resolve complex production network issues.
• Collaborate with Architecture, Engineering, Cloud, Security, and Operations teams.
• Develop implementation plans, network diagrams, testing procedures, rollback plans, and technical documentation.
• Contribute to network architecture and design decisions while maintaining a strong hands-on engineering focus.
• Support network automation and Infrastructure as Code initiatives.

Required Skills

• 10+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise and data center networking.
• Expert-level experience with Cisco Nexus and Catalyst switches.
• Strong knowledge of BGP, OSPF, Layer 2/Layer 3 networking, routing, switching, segmentation, and high availability.
• Strong experience in enterprise WAN and SD-WAN design, deployment, migration, and troubleshooting.
• Hands-on experience with Azure ExpressRoute and/or AWS Direct Connect.
• Experience with data center networking and colocation environments.
• Network automation knowledge and familiarity with Terraform, Ansible, Python, GitHub, and GitOps.
• Strong troubleshooting, packet analysis, monitoring, and network observability skills.
• Experience leading complex network migrations, production cutovers, rollback planning, and validation.

Preferred Skills

• CCNP-level networking knowledge; CCNP/CCIE certifications are a plus.
• Cisco NDFC and Catalyst Center.
• Prisma SD-WAN.
• Palo Alto firewalls.
• Infoblox (DNS/DHCP/IPAM).
• F5 load balancers.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and GitHub Actions.

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 10+ years of relevant network engineering experience.
• Strong Cisco data center networking expertise.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to work independently and lead complex technical implementations.
• Must be local to Chicago, IL, and available for a hybrid work arrangement.
• Only US Citizens and Green Card holders will be considered.