Job Description

HNI Corporation is a global family of brands for the workplace and home dedicated to enhancing the spaces where we live, work, and gather. We pride ourselves on fostering an environment where we make a positive impact on others; upholding our beliefs in integrity, inclusion and belonging.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Network Architect is a senior technical leader responsible for the design, evolution, and long-term sustainability of HNI’s enterprise network and network security architecture. This role defines architectural standards and roadmaps for global data networking and telecommunications services, ensuring high availability, scalability, security, and performance across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

The Network Architect partners closely with Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure Operations, Security, and business stakeholders to translate business requirements into resilient network designs. This role provides hands-on architectural leadership across data center, campus, WAN, cloud, and remote access environments while enabling operational teams to execute and support solutions effectively.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Enterprise Network Architecture & Strategy

• Define and maintain the enterprise network architecture vision, standards, and roadmaps for data networking and network security services globally.
• Ensure network architecture aligns with business strategy, application architecture, cloud adoption, and security requirements.
• Develop and present architecture proposals, migration strategies, and business cases to IT and business leadership.
• Evaluate emerging networking technologies and industry best practices to drive cost efficiency, resiliency, and performance improvements.

Network Design & Engineering Leadership

• Architect end-to-end network solutions spanning campus LAN, WAN, SD-WAN, data center, cloud connectivity, and remote access environments.
• Design highly available and fault-tolerant network solutions supporting voice, data, video, and multimedia services.
• Provide architectural guidance for network security services including firewalls, VPNs, segmentation, and cloud security architectures.
• Lead design reviews and provide recommendations to remediate performance, scalability, and resiliency risks.

Cloud & Hybrid Networking

• Design and govern network connectivity for public cloud environments (Azure preferred; OCI, AWS as applicable).
• Architect hybrid connectivity models including ExpressRoute / Direct Connect, transit gateways, load balancers, and routing strategies.
• Ensure cloud networking designs integrate seamlessly with on-premises data center and WAN architectures.

Security, Risk & Compliance

• Participate in IT risk management initiatives and support audit and compliance strategies.
• Embed appropriate security controls into network architecture designs to protect information assets.
• Partner with security teams to support Zero Trust, segmentation, and secure remote access strategies.
• Assess architectural risks and guide mitigation strategies.

Operational Partnership & Governance

• Partner with network operations and infrastructure teams to ensure architectural designs are operationally supportable.
• Provide escalation support for complex or high-severity network issues as needed.
• Define architectural templates, reference designs, and standard methodologies to promote reuse and consistency.
• Contribute to total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis and infrastructure investment planning.

Vendor & Technology Management

• Evaluate, select, and recommend networking tools and platforms to monitor, manage, and optimize network performance.
• Maintain strong partnerships with key vendors and service providers to align technology roadmaps.
• Provide technical input into vendor selection, contracts, and managed services strategies.

Knowledge Sharing & Mentorship

• Mentor network engineers and operations teams by reviewing designs and sharing architectural best practices.
• Educate IT and business stakeholders on network architecture risks, tradeoffs, and design decisions.
• Promote a culture of documentation, standardization, and continuous improvement.

EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• 10+ years of experience in networking-focused IT roles.
• 3+ years providing architectural guidance for large-scale, enterprise network environments.
• Advanced experience designing complex IP internetworks.
• Strong hands-on experience with Cisco IOS and NX-OS environments.
• Network certifications such as CCNP or CCIE.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• ITIL certification or strong familiarity with ITIL processes.
• Experience supporting manufacturing or multi-site enterprise environments.
• Experience with HA/DR networking strategies in virtualized and cloud environments.
• Project management experience.

RELEVANT SKILLS

• Strategic thinker with strong technical depth.
• Ability to balance architectural rigor with practical operational needs.
• Strong communicator capable of influencing technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Calm and effective in high-pressure or escalated situations.
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU!