Principal Network Architect leads design and modernization of enterprise data center, WAN, SD-WAN, cloud connectivity, and multisite solutions, translating business needs into detailed technical designs and providing hands-on leadership across a large-scale network environment. Key Responsibilities: • Lead design and modernization of data center, WAN, SD-WAN, cloud-connectivity, and multisite network solutions • Translate high-level business or technical concepts into detailed designs, implementation plans, diagrams, and standards • Architect BGP, VXLAN, spine-leaf fabrics, underlay/overlay topologies, and cloud-router integrations • Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend improvements to scalability, resiliency, security, and cost • Provide technical direction and mentorship to senior engineers • Implement hands-on network solutions, including complex troubleshooting and cutovers • Manage large-scale WAN and multisite connectivity across distributed locations • Conduct on-call rotations and respond to PagerDuty escalations • Travel less than 10% to data centers in Springfield or Kansas City Qualifications: • Principal, lead, architect, or highly advanced senior-level enterprise networking experience • Expert-level routing/switching with mandatory BGP and dynamic routing • Proficiency with Cisco Nexus 9K or comparable data-center platforms; Arista, Juniper, Aruba, and Palo Alto acceptable • Proven enterprise network architecture and design experience, including high-level and low-level diagrams • Ability to translate loosely defined requirements into complete technical designs, implementation plans, and documentation • Demonstrated experience designing and deploying VXLAN fabrics • Strong understanding of spine-leaf architecture and underlay/overlay topologies • Experience managing and troubleshooting large-scale WAN and multisite connectivity • Working knowledge of cloud networking and hybrid connectivity (GCP preferred), including cloud routers, virtual networks/VPCs, and connectivity between on-premises and cloud platforms • Willingness to participate in on-call rotation, respond to PagerDuty escalations, and support occasional after-hours cutovers or maintenance Preferred Skills: • CCNP Enterprise, CCNP Routing and Switching, or equivalent certification • Network automation experience using Python, Ansible, Terraform, APIs, or Postman • Equinix Fabric, Network Edge, or virtual-backbone experience • Fortinet/FortiGate experience, including SD-WAN, switching, centralized policy management, or Fortinet certifications • Experience supporting low-latency, high-traffic retail or omnichannel environments • Experience mentoring or providing technical directions to network engineers • Prior team-lead or supervisory experience, ideally 1-3 years directing engineers or technical resources • Cloud-routing and hybrid-connectivity experience (GCP preferred) • Experience designing and supporting zero-trust, least-privilege, segmentation, or secure-access architectures