Lead Architect - Network & Security

Lead Architect - Network & Security
Location: Karachi | Grade Level: L3 | Application Deadline: 9th October 2026

The Lead Architect - Network & Security serves as the principal design authority for all network and network-security initiatives within Jazz Enterprise Solutions' systems integration team. This role leads a team of engineers delivering solutions across enterprise, financial services, and public sector clients. Responsibilities include designing and maintaining data centre fabrics, enterprise WAN and SD-WAN, next-generation firewalls, network access control, and secure edge services. The position is based in Karachi with nationwide delivery coverage and reports to the Head of Delivery - SI, Cybersecurity & Managed Services.

Key Responsibilities
- Act as the design authority for network and security delivery across all systems integration projects, managing and guiding the network and security engineering team.
- Own and continuously update reference architectures, design standards, and technical patterns in line with OEM roadmaps.
- Produce and review High-Level and Low-Level Designs, methods of procedure, migration and rollback plans, and as-built documentation. Approve all network and security designs prior to implementation.
- Ensure all designs comply with customer security, audit, and regulatory requirements, including those mandated by the State Bank of Pakistan for financial sector clients.
- Lead complex implementations and migrations, including data centre fabric builds, WAN and SD-WAN rollouts, firewall migrations, NAC deployments, and secure edge services.
- Plan and execute changes in live production environments with clearly defined fallback and validation criteria.
- Serve as the Tier 3/Tier 4 engineering escalation point for network and security issues, leading root-cause analysis on complex incidents.
- Ensure smooth handover to managed services with comprehensive runbooks, documentation, and knowledge transfer.
- Manage the network and security engineering team by allocating work, managing capacity and skills, and maintaining high standards. Develop team members through mentoring, certification planning, and skills assessment.
- Participate in recruitment, interviewing candidates, and onboarding new engineers.
- Collaborate with Solutions Engineering on bids by validating feasibility, estimating effort, reviewing bills of materials, and assessing delivery risks. Provide technical input during delivery gate reviews and support customer workshops, proofs of concept, and technical presentations.
- Maintain strong technical relationships with OEMs and vendors such as Cisco, Fortinet, Huawei, Palo Alto, and F5, managing escalations and vendor engagements on complex projects.
- Evaluate new technologies for portfolio inclusion, assessing fit, supportability, and delivery impact.

Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or a related field.
- Minimum 12 years of hands-on experience in enterprise network and network-security engineering, including at least 3 years in a technical leadership role.
- Proven track record delivering complex, multi-vendor network and security programs for enterprise or financial services clients through to acceptance.
- Experience managing migrations and technology refreshes in live production environments with structured fallback plans and minimal disruption.
- Exposure to pre-sales activities such as solution validation, effort estimation, bill of materials review, and customer-facing design defense.
- Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop engineers, including certification planning and raising team standards.

Technical Expertise
- Data centre technologies including Cisco ACI (multi-pod/multi-site), Nexus platforms, VXLAN/EVPN fabrics, and Huawei equivalents.
- WAN and SD-WAN solutions such as Cisco SD-WAN, Meraki, Fortinet, Huawei, MPLS, BGP, OSPF, DMVPN, and branch-scale WAN aggregation.
- Security technologies including next-generation firewalls (Cisco FTD/FMC/ASA, FortiGate, Palo Alto, Huawei USG), IPS, WAF, micro-segmentation, secure remote access, and DDoS mitigation.
- Access control and identity management with Cisco ISE (802.1X, MAB, posture, profiling, TACACS+), multi-factor authentication, and directory integration.
- Application delivery and load balancing (F5, Kemp), campus switching, and enterprise wireless.
- Preferred certifications include CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure or Security. CCNP, PCNSE, Fortinet NSE, Huawei HCIP/HCIE, or CISSP will also be considered with demonstrated design authority.
- Strong documentation skills producing HLDs, LLDs, MOPs, migration plans, and as-builts.

Market and Domain Knowledge
- Experience delivering solutions to Pakistani financial services clients including commercial and microfinance banks, insurance, and fintech sectors, with an understanding of their unique change control, audit, and regulatory requirements.
- Familiarity with primary and disaster recovery site architectures, segmented environments, and regulated network zones.
- Knowledge of the local OEM, distributor, and partner ecosystem.

Work Approach
- Credible technical leader respected by senior engineers, able to assert design authority based on merit.
- Collaborative across multiple teams including Solutions Engineering, Technical Support, Delivery Excellence, and Supply Chain.
- Able to communicate technical risks and design trade-offs effectively to non-engineering stakeholders.
- Demonstrates sound judgment on effort estimation and sequencing, with a proactive approach to problem escalation.
- Willingness to travel nationwide and work during customer change windows, often outside regular office hours.

Preferred Qualifications and Benefits
Jazz is recognized as a certified Top Employer, fostering a workplace culture that encourages innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. Employees benefit from a supportive environment driven by core values such as Customer Obsession, Truthfulness, Innovation, Collaboration, and Entrepreneurial spirit. As Pakistan’s largest digital operator, Jazz offers the opportunity to contribute to large-scale digital transformation impacting millions nationwide. The company is committed to diversity and inclusion, providing equal opportunities for all employees and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive.

Joining Jazz means being part of a forward-looking organization dedicated to delivering meaningful solutions and building a more connected digital future.