Cisco SD-WAN Solution Architect

Contract: 6 months
Rate: $60–$70 USD/hour
Eligibility: U.S. residents only

About the Role

We’re looking for an experienced Cisco SD-WAN Solution Architect to support complex enterprise network transformation initiatives. This is a highly technical architecture role focused on reviewing and validating Cisco SD-WAN designs, identifying technical and scalability risks, and helping ensure solutions are production-ready and aligned with industry best practices.

You’ll work closely with customer engineering teams, Cisco and technology partners, architects, and delivery teams throughout design, validation, deployment, and go-live.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys being the technical authority in the room — someone who can challenge assumptions, spot architectural gaps, and turn complex network requirements into scalable, repeatable solutions.

What You’ll Do

• Review and validate Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN / Viptela architectures and detailed designs.


• Assess network topology, hub-and-mesh architectures, routing, segmentation, resiliency, multicast, QoS, and configuration strategies.


• Review Feature Profiles, Configuration Groups, device/site templates, and deployment models for scalability and consistency.


• Identify architectural gaps, technical risks, configuration sprawl, and scalability concerns.


• Provide independent technical guidance and recommendations on SD-WAN architecture and implementation.


• Troubleshoot complex SD-WAN design and implementation issues.


• Support lab validation, integration testing, deployment readiness, cutovers, rollback planning, and go-live activities.


• Develop repeatable deployment standards, configuration guidelines, and implementation playbooks.


• Lead or participate in technical design reviews and architecture governance sessions.


• Track technical risks, issues, decisions, and dependencies and drive them toward resolution.


• Work across customer, vendor, architecture, and delivery teams to ensure successful technical outcomes.


• Capture lessons learned and continuously improve deployment standards and best practices.

What We’re Looking For

• 20+ years of experience in enterprise networking, network architecture, or network engineering.


• 5+ years of strong hands-on Cisco SD-WAN / Viptela experience.


• Deep expertise in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN architecture and deployment.


• Strong experience with Cisco Catalyst 8500 and 8300 platforms.


• Strong knowledge of:
  
  
  
  • Cisco SD-WAN Manager / vManage
  
  
  • Feature Profiles and Configuration Groups
  
  
  • Device and site templates
  
  
  • BGP, OSPF, and static routing
  
  
  • Routing and segmentation
  
  
  • IPsec and overlay architecture
  
  
  • Multicast over SD-WAN
  
  
  • Hub-and-spoke and hub-mesh architectures
  
  
  • High availability and resiliency
  
  
  • QoS and application-aware routing
  
  
  • MPLS, Internet, and hybrid underlay integration
  
  
  
  


• Experience designing SD-WAN solutions for large, distributed enterprise environments.


• Ability to review and troubleshoot configurations at both the architecture and implementation levels.


• Strong communication, documentation, stakeholder management, and technical decision-making skills.

Nice to Have

• Experience with large-scale global SD-WAN transformation programs.


• Experience deploying SD-WAN across hundreds of sites.


• Experience working directly with Cisco technical or architecture teams.


• Experience migrating legacy WAN/MPLS environments to SD-WAN.


• Knowledge of SD-WAN automation, APIs, scripting, and orchestration.


• Experience developing reusable templates, standards, and deployment playbooks.


• Experience supporting production cutovers and network transformation programs.


• CCIE or equivalent-level Cisco networking expertise.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, you’ll help ensure that SD-WAN solutions are not only technically sound, but also scalable, repeatable, and ready for production. You’ll be responsible for helping teams identify risks early, strengthen architecture and deployment standards, and successfully move complex network transformation initiatives through implementation and go-live.

If you’re a hands-on Cisco SD-WAN architect who enjoys solving complex enterprise networking challenges and influencing the right technical outcome, we’d love to hear from you.