Solution Architect - Networking and IT Security

Position Overview
We are scaling our Solution Architecture practice to support growing demand across South and West India. As a Solution Architect specializing in Networking and IT Security, you will own the technical solution lifecycle end-to-end — from qualifying customer opportunities, through designing scalable network and security architectures, to defending your solutions in negotiation. You will be a customer-facing trusted advisor, working closely with our sales and business teams to convert opportunities into wins.

What You'll Do

• Engage directly with customers to understand business objectives, assess existing network and security postures, and gather detailed technical requirements.
• Design robust, scalable, and right-sized network architectures aligned with customer needs, budget realities, and industry best practices.
• Architect end-to-end security frameworks covering firewalls, VPNs, intrusion detection/prevention, identity, and zero-trust principles.
• Create accurate Bills of Material (BoM) using OEM-specific models (Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto, HP, etc.), including licensing, accessories, transceivers, and regional components.
• Author solution documents, presentations, and proposals; defend technical positioning during customer evaluation and negotiation.
• Optimize solutions during the proposal phase — articulate must-have vs good-to-have trade-offs to customers transparently.
• Coordinate with implementation teams to ensure deployed solutions match architectural intent and SLAs.
• Stay current with emerging networking and security technologies and bring them into customer conversations proactively.
• Mentor junior engineers and share knowledge across the practice.

What You'll Bring
Must-Have

• 8+ years of total experience in networking and IT security, with at least 2 years in a Solution Architect role at a System Integrator.
• Demonstrated track record of designing complex network and security solutions end-to-end — qualification through deployment.
• Hands-on background in implementation (40% of career) followed by progression into solutioning (60%) — strong fundamentals from real deployments.
• Deep working knowledge of routing, switching, firewalls, VPN, IDS/IPS, NAC, and network monitoring tools.
• Expertise across multiple OEM ecosystems — Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto, HP/Aruba, or equivalent.
• Accurate BoM construction skills — right-sizing without over-engineering or missing critical components.
• Excellent customer-facing communication, whiteboarding ability, and consultative listening skills.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, Network Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related field.

Good-to-Have

• Industry certifications: CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, CISSP, Fortinet NSE, or Palo Alto PCNSE.
• Experience working at a mid-to-large System Integrator with multi-vendor exposure.
• Exposure to NAC, SD-WAN, SASE, or cloud networking (AWS/Azure).
• Experience presenting to CXO-level customer stakeholders.
• Track record of growing into a leadership or regional architect role.