Our client a well known Financial Services Firm is seeking a Network Security Architect in their St Petersburg, Florida location!

Design and Architecture:

Utilize standardized architecture templates to design network and network security solutions that adhere strictly to enterprise standards and best practices.
Develop comprehensive, secure network designs by selecting appropriate hardware and software components that align with project goals and organizational objectives.
Assist the Lead Architect in coordinating activities of the Network Architecture Team, ensuring effective collaboration and alignment with business strategy.
Research and evaluate emerging technologies and methodologies to improve network infrastructure and security posture.
Conduct complex technology assessments, gather business and technical requirements, and evaluate existing systems for efficiency, scalability, and effectiveness.
Provide expert-level technical guidance to architecture and engineering teams, promoting architectural excellence and successful project execution.
Produce detailed architectural documentation, including high-level and low-level network diagrams, and deliver clear handoffs to the network engineering team.
Implement robust network security controls, such as firewalls, IDS/IPS, VPNs, and encryption protocols, to defend against cybersecurity threats.
Stay up-to-date on evolving network technologies, industry standards, and best practices to ensure scalable, secure, and future-ready architectures.
Evaluate network capacity based on current and forecasted usage to ensure scalability and accommodate business growth.

Support and Documentation:

Provide ad-hoc support to network engineering and operations teams as needed.
Maintain up-to-date architecture documents and design guidelines using approved templates to guide system configuration, testing, and implementation.
Ensure service level agreement (SLA) compliance, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and meet all project deadlines.
Address vulnerabilities and security design concerns promptly in accordance with regulatory frameworks (e.g., PCI DSS, PII, CIS, NIST).

Leadership and Collaboration:

Lead cross-functional collaboration to evaluate, introduce, and implement new network technologies.
Coordinate assigned projects, taking ownership of both technical and communication deliverables.
Align with architecture and engineering peers to support shared project and enterprise goals.
Conduct knowledge transfer and cross-training initiatives.
Serve as a technical leader and subject matter expert (SME) within IT project teams.

Required Skills and Experience:

Proven experience with network and network security architecture in enterprise environments (10,000+ users).
Strong grasp of architecture and design principles.
Expertise in Cisco and Arista enterprise technologies, including:
Layer 2 technologies (STP, VLANs, VTP, LACP)
High availability (VPC, SVL, HSRP, VRRP, MLAG)
Routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, MP-BGP, VXLAN)
Data center spine/leaf architecture
SD-WAN technologies (Cisco, Palo Alto ION)
SASE solutions (e.g., Palo Alto Prisma Access)
Cisco wireless solutions in large-scale deployments (Cisco WLC, FlexConnect, CAPWAP)
In-depth knowledge of network security technologies, VPNs, intrusion prevention/detection, and encryption protocols
Capacity planning, network performance optimization, and load balancing expertise
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills-ability to evaluate data from multiple sources and draw strategic conclusions

Preferred (Desirable) Experience:

Design of Palo Alto NGFWs (PAN-OS, Threat Prevention, GlobalProtect, HA)
F5 Clusters and load balancing (LTM, GTM, APM, SSL policies, DNS Geolocation, ASM/Cloud WAF)
Remote access VPN solutions (GlobalProtect, F5 BIG-IP Edge)
Network Access Control (NAC) design (Forescout, Cisco ISE)
Cloud network security architecture (AWS, Azure, etc.)
Certificate management (Venafi), PKI, cryptographic protocols
Infoblox DNS/IPAM functionality
Automation and scripting (Python, Ansible)
Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools (SevOne, SolarWinds, DataDog, Splunk)

Remote work,