Our client is looking for Datacenter Network Architect
Description
Design a future-proof, cloud-connected datacenter network taking into account brownfield implementation, budget constraints and:
- Deterministic performance for east-west traffic (VMware, Oracle RAC/Exadata, AI training, Kubernetes/OpenShift).
- Secure segmentation & micro-segmentation in line with Zero Trust principles.
- High availability and disaster recovery for mission critical workloads.
- Integration of hybrid cloud with Azure on-prem (e.g. Azure Stack HCI, Azure Arc).
Delivery of:
An approved target architecture and a 3-year roadmap for DC networks supporting VMware, Oracle, SAN, AI and Azure on-prem, with clear standards and a migration plan including a decision logbook (ADRs) in which considerations, risks and justifications are recorded.
Including:
- Assessment of current state: Inventory of network environments (underlay/overlay/SAN/DMZ/edge), dependencies, performance baselines and risks.
- Target architecture: Reference network architectures for VMware, Oracle, SAN or vSAN, AI and Azure on-prem, taking into account segmentation model, HA/DR designs.
- Technology choice & HL roadmap: Evaluation of fabrics (EVPN/VXLAN versus ACI/?), AI interconnect (Ethernet RoCE versus InfiniBand), SAN evolution (FC vs NVMe vs RoCEv2), micro-segmentation solutions, integration of Azure Stack HCI/Arc networks.
- Security by Design: Zero Trust guidelines, micro-segmentation policy, privileged access, traffic encryption, secrets management.
- Performance & capacity engineering: Throughput/latency, vMotion, vSAN, backup windows, AI training jobs; QoS and congestion mitigation strategies.
- Resilience & DR: Active-active datacenters, stretched clusters (where applicable), design of runbooks and failover testing.
- Interoperability & integration: Coexistence between VMware/NSX, Oracle RAC/Exadata, SAN zoning, AI cluster interconnect, Azure on-prem/hybrid connectivity.
Technical skills
- Language 1: Dutch or French (C2: highly complex mastery)
- Language 2: Dutch or French (other than language 1) (B1: intermediate level)
- Language 3: English (B1: intermediate level)
- Proven knowledge of datacenter network architecture (minimum 2 years)
- Experience with Cisco ACI multi-Fabric (minimum 2 years)
- Experience with Azure implementations in Cloud and on-prem (Hybrid) (minimum 2 years)
- Experience in SAN networking (minimum 2 years)
- Experience with implementation of VMware ESX and NSX-T (minimum 2 years)
- Extensive knowledge of network protocols: BGP, VXLAN, EVPN, RoCEv2, MPLS (minimum 5 years)
- Professional technical IT experience (minimum 10 years)
Soft skills
- The candidate must demonstrate knowledge of the company, the IT world and understand the challenges of the requested function, including the mission and key activities.
- The candidate must demonstrate the ability to integrate into company teams, notably through the values of kindness, courage, positivity and reliability.
- The candidate must demonstrate skills inherent to the requested role within the ICT department, namely presentation skills, a professional attitude, correctness and respect towards management, clear and effective communication and responsible commitment for the duration of the contract.
