Distinguished Architect-Solutions Architect

Job Description

When you join Verizon

You want more out of a career. A place to share your ideas freely — even if they’re daring or different. Where the true you can learn, grow, and thrive. At Verizon, we power and empower how people live, work and play by connecting them to what brings them joy. We do what we love — driving innovation, creativity, and impact in the world. Our V Team is a community of people who anticipate, lead, and believe that listening is where learning begins. In crisis and in celebration, we come together — lifting our communities and building trust in how we show up, everywhere & always. Want in? Join the V Team Life.

What you’ll be doing...

As a Distinguished Solutions Architect, you will have a leading role in realizing Verizon Business (VzB) sales opportunities through design validation to accelerate solution development aimed at solving complex business challenges.

The Verizon Customer Technology Center (CTC) provides proof-of-concept (PoC) testing as well as demonstrating our products and services to enterprise customers in a Lab environment. Conducting a PoC test would typically include building a lab environment, running test cases, documenting results, and presenting the technical findings and recommendations to stakeholders.

In this role, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and implement strategic products and services leveraging the latest technologies such as 5G, AI, IOT, and cloud computing. At the CTC Lab, you will be faced with various technologies and hence you must possess a strong technical foundation, but equally important is your curiosity and commitment to lifelong learning.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Gathering complex customer requirements for designing solutions.

• Proving the solution viability by performing PoC tests and documenting user stories and test cases in order to present to the customer, sales, and presales community.

• Overseeing the setup and configuration of complex network topologies to replicate real-world scenarios.

• Developing and implementing standardized lab testing methodologies to validate network solutions

• Managing and maintaining the lab infrastructure, including network devices, servers, and testing tools, and ensuring their optimal performance and availability.

• Researching and evaluating emerging network technologies, including SD-WAN, network automation, and cloud networking, to identify potential solutions for future implementation.

• Analyzing network performance metrics to identify bottlenecks and optimizing network performance within the lab environment.

• Troubleshooting complex network issues, identifying root causes and implementing effective solutions.

• Working closely with cross-functional teams including software developers, system engineers, and product managers to ensure network solutions align with overall product strategy.

• Mentoring team members

What we’re looking for...

You’ll need to have:

• Bachelor’s degree or four or more years of work experience.

• Ten or more years of relevant work experience.

• Deep understanding of network protocols (TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, MPLS, etc.)

• Ability to design and implement complex network architectures in a lab environment over production WAN networks

• Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting skills

• Documentation skills: Lucid Chart, Visio, or G-Suite

Even better if you have one or more of the following:

• A Master of Science or PhD degree.

• Fifteen or more years of experience in designing and implementing complex LAN/WAN/WLAN solutions, especially for Fortune 500 companies.

• A proven track record of technical validation through Lab testing.

• Industry Certification(s) such as CCNP, CCIE, JNCIA, VMware, etc.

• Hardware: Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, Palo Alto, Cradlepoint

• Experience (or familiarity) with Cisco Application-Centric Infrastructure (ACI)

• Expertise in network security principles and technologies including firewalls, VPNs, intrusion detection/prevention systems, etc.

• Advanced technical skills in at least three of the following: Data and IP Services (SDWAN, SASE, SSE), Managed Network Services (LAN, WAN, WLAN), Managed Security Solutions, Data Center, and Cellular - 5G PWN.

• Hands-on experience with network routing and switching (Internet, MPLS, Wireless - 802.11a-n, 4G/5G), virtualization techniques (VMware/ Openstack), WAN Optimization, and IPv6.

• Strong knowledge of cloud (Public/Private) networking concepts and platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)

• Test equipment and application experience: Spirent Test Center, IXIA, iPerf.

• Hands-on experience with network automation tools and scripting languages (Ansible, Postman, Python) for network configuration and monitoring.

• Strong communication and presales presentation skills by effectively communicating complex network concepts to potentially non-technical audiences.

• Ability to bridge business drivers to product functionality through persuasive storytelling in person as well as web-collaboration.

If Verizon and this role sound like a fit for you, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every “even better” qualification listed above.

Where you’ll be working

In this hybrid role, you'll have a defined work location that includes work from home and a minimum eight assigned office days per month that will be set by your manager.

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Equal Employment Opportunity

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer - and celebrate our employees’ differences, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, and Veteran status. At Verizon, we know that diversity makes us stronger. We are committed to a collaborative, inclusive environment that encourages authenticity and fosters a sense of belonging. We strive for everyone to feel valued, connected, and empowered to reach their potential and contribute their best. Check out our diversity and inclusion page to learn more.