OPT Network Architect Jobs
Network Architect jobs on OPT are available at enterprises, cloud providers, and consulting firms that regularly sponsor H-1B visas. Most roles require a degree in computer science, information technology, or a related field, which satisfies DSO reporting requirements. STEM OPT extension is almost always applicable here.
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Get Access To All JobsAbout Integrated Management Strategies (IMS) LLC
We are a women-owned small business and management consulting firm that provides an array of business and technical services. IMS is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with employees across 39 US states.
What We Do
We support the mission critical needs of federal agencies by leveraging our experience, talent and can-do attitude, and solve their strategic and operational challenges.
How We Do It
We earn our clients’ trust through our personalized approach and attention to detail, allowing us to collaborate and solve even the most complex problems.
About the role
Are you ready for your next career adventure?! Integrated Management Strategies (IMS) is an award-winning, fast-growing woman-owned small business in the Washington DC area, specializing in healthcare, technology, and management consulting. We are seeking an experienced Network Architect to join our healthcare consulting practice. The role is on site in Vacaville, CA with occasional travel as needed. We are proud of our national presence, and excited to offer great career opportunities within the organization.
This position will act as a primary technical principal and is responsible for delivery of network solutions at an enterprise level. Expertise with network infrastructure technologies such as AWS Cloud, Azure Cloud, LAN, WAN, Wireless, Security, VoIP, Video and Data Center. Ideal candidates will have Data Center experience. Candidates for this position must be able to, from day one, roll up their sleeves and hit the ground running, and bring their experience to the team to make the project deployments much smoother.
- Oversee planning, design, implementation, and operation of network infrastructure projects and participate in the specification of business requirements and implementation plans for technically advanced internetworking solutions.
- Manage implementation of network infrastructure projects, from both technical and communication aspects.
- Review network design for network security and other risks during course of projects. Serve as a liaison to vendors and/or third-party providers as assigned.
- Provide on-site and remote technical assistance to other resources and to customers.
- Build and document new Infrastructure environments following industry best practices and internal security policies and standards.
- Provide infrastructure design, implementation planning, deployment support, software strategy, system troubleshooting, performance engineering and optimization, maintenance strategy.
- Provide technical guidance, knowledge transfer and mentorship to internal engineering peers as required and lead technical staff responsibilities.
- Establish networking environment by designing system configuration; directing system installation; defining, documenting, and enforcing system standards.
- Maximize network performance by monitoring performance; troubleshoot network problems and outages; schedule upgrades; collaborate with other teams on network optimization.
- Secure network and server systems by establishing and enforcing policies; define and monitor access.
- Accomplish information systems and organization mission by completing related results as needed.
- Provide 24 by 7 support.
- Report network operational status by gathering, prioritizing information.
- Participate in capacity planning and demand forecasting, software performance analysis and network tuning.
- Collaborate with cross functional teams to ensure timely delivery of solutions which drive successful business outcomes.
- Provide skills enhancement at a satisfactory rate and report any issues that may impede the progress of training and mentoring.
- Provide input to develop training and mentoring plan to include specific skill sets, tasks, and training methodologies.
- Responsible to execute the training and mentoring plan(s) with designated employees and shall provide input to refine and further develop training and mentoring plans as training progresses.
- Meet and discuss progress of training on a monthly basis.
Required Qualifications
- Expert knowledge of Palo Alto Network Firewall, CloudFlare and, Prisma Cloud and Cisco ASA.
- Expert knowledge of F5 Load Balancers LTM, GTM, WAF, and AWS ELB.
- Advanced OSI layer 2 knowledge and practical experience, including various flavors of STP, ARP, QOS, etc.
- Comprehensive knowledge of OSI layer 3 networks and protocols, including broadcast, multicast, anycast concepts, routing, etc.
- Expert knowledge of various routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP) and multi-homing Internet circuit configuration.
- Proficient knowledge of network security methodologies as a whole, including but not limited to: ACLs, Stateful firewalls, VPNs (tunneling, IPsec, SSL, etc.).
- Fluency with common network admin and monitoring tools such as Rancid, OpenNMS, Nagios, OpManager, Wireshark, Nmap, Nessus, Netflow, Sflow etc.
- Administrative scripting skills (Perl, UNIX shell scripting).
- Advanced knowledge of Cisco IOS, NX-OS, both Cisco Nexus 1K, 2K, 5K 7K, 9K and non-Nexus series switches, Cisco routers and other Cisco networking gear.
- Working knowledge of data center related technology and collocation environment.
- Advanced knowledge of MPLS network.
- Working knowledge of Nexus 9K and VPC.
- Advanced knowledge of Forcepoint configuration.
- Advanced knowledge and experience with Routing Protocols (BGP, RIP, OSPF, etc.).
- Working knowledge of Palo Alto Global Protect VPN.
- Advanced knowledge and hands-on experience on Cisco Network Devices automation.
- Working knowledge of Ansible or Python scripting for Network automation.
- Deep domain expertise in networking, network security and public/private clouds.
- Working knowledge deploying and maintaining wireless networks.
- Expert knowledge of AWS services i.e. EC2, ELB, RDS, S3, Route53, VPC, Cloud formation, SSM and Transit gateway.
- Working knowledge of deploying and maintaining Microsoft Team PBX VOIP deployments (network side, not telecom), SIP Trunking and Five 9 Content Center.
- Working knowledge of managing network service and similar support providers in a client/vendor relationship.
Preferred Qualifications
- Advance hands-on experience in Palo Alto firewall, F5 LTM, GTM and WAF.
- Advance hands-on experience in AWS cloud.
- Extensive hands-on experience in automation with Ansible, CloudFormation or Terraform.
- AWS solution architect certification and CCNP certification required.
- Deep knowledge in Forcepoint.
Desired Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in a technical field (e.g. Computer Science, IT, or similar disciplines).
- Equivalent work experience implementing and operating enterprise level data center and/or office networks.
- Experience operating in a modern cloud environment such as AWS, GCP, or Azure or large scale data centers is a plus.
- CCNP is the very minimum requirement. CCIE R&S, or CCIE data center certifications and AWS certified solutions architect is a big plus.
What we offer:
In addition to a rewarding career, IMS offers a wide range of benefits to its employees, including:
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
- Personal and Family Sick Time
- 11 Company Paid Holidays
- Medical & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
- Group Life & Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance
- Group Short Term Disability Insurance
- Voluntary Life Insurance, Long Term Disability Insurance, Accident Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance
- Personal Development & Learning Opportunities
- Skills Development & Certifications
- Employee Referral Program
- Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
- Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus
Integrated Management Strategies is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, pregnancy, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for the employment process, please email your request to hr@im-strat.com
E-Verify® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This business uses E-Verify in its hiring practices to achieve a lawful workforce. www.dhs.gov/E-Verify
The salary range provided for this position is a nationwide market range and represents a broad range of salaries for this role across the country. The actual salary rate for this position will be determined by a number of factors, including, scope, complexity, and location of the role; the skills, education, training, credentials, and experience of the candidate, and other conditions of employment.
About Integrated Management Strategies (IMS) LLC
We are a women-owned small business and management consulting firm that provides an array of business and technical services. IMS is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with employees across 39 US states.
What We Do
We support the mission critical needs of federal agencies by leveraging our experience, talent and can-do attitude, and solve their strategic and operational challenges.
How We Do It
We earn our clients’ trust through our personalized approach and attention to detail, allowing us to collaborate and solve even the most complex problems.
About the role
Are you ready for your next career adventure?! Integrated Management Strategies (IMS) is an award-winning, fast-growing woman-owned small business in the Washington DC area, specializing in healthcare, technology, and management consulting. We are seeking an experienced Network Architect to join our healthcare consulting practice. The role is on site in Vacaville, CA with occasional travel as needed. We are proud of our national presence, and excited to offer great career opportunities within the organization.
This position will act as a primary technical principal and is responsible for delivery of network solutions at an enterprise level. Expertise with network infrastructure technologies such as AWS Cloud, Azure Cloud, LAN, WAN, Wireless, Security, VoIP, Video and Data Center. Ideal candidates will have Data Center experience. Candidates for this position must be able to, from day one, roll up their sleeves and hit the ground running, and bring their experience to the team to make the project deployments much smoother.
- Oversee planning, design, implementation, and operation of network infrastructure projects and participate in the specification of business requirements and implementation plans for technically advanced internetworking solutions.
- Manage implementation of network infrastructure projects, from both technical and communication aspects.
- Review network design for network security and other risks during course of projects. Serve as a liaison to vendors and/or third-party providers as assigned.
- Provide on-site and remote technical assistance to other resources and to customers.
- Build and document new Infrastructure environments following industry best practices and internal security policies and standards.
- Provide infrastructure design, implementation planning, deployment support, software strategy, system troubleshooting, performance engineering and optimization, maintenance strategy.
- Provide technical guidance, knowledge transfer and mentorship to internal engineering peers as required and lead technical staff responsibilities.
- Establish networking environment by designing system configuration; directing system installation; defining, documenting, and enforcing system standards.
- Maximize network performance by monitoring performance; troubleshoot network problems and outages; schedule upgrades; collaborate with other teams on network optimization.
- Secure network and server systems by establishing and enforcing policies; define and monitor access.
- Accomplish information systems and organization mission by completing related results as needed.
- Provide 24 by 7 support.
- Report network operational status by gathering, prioritizing information.
- Participate in capacity planning and demand forecasting, software performance analysis and network tuning.
- Collaborate with cross functional teams to ensure timely delivery of solutions which drive successful business outcomes.
- Provide skills enhancement at a satisfactory rate and report any issues that may impede the progress of training and mentoring.
- Provide input to develop training and mentoring plan to include specific skill sets, tasks, and training methodologies.
- Responsible to execute the training and mentoring plan(s) with designated employees and shall provide input to refine and further develop training and mentoring plans as training progresses.
- Meet and discuss progress of training on a monthly basis.
Required Qualifications
- Expert knowledge of Palo Alto Network Firewall, CloudFlare and, Prisma Cloud and Cisco ASA.
- Expert knowledge of F5 Load Balancers LTM, GTM, WAF, and AWS ELB.
- Advanced OSI layer 2 knowledge and practical experience, including various flavors of STP, ARP, QOS, etc.
- Comprehensive knowledge of OSI layer 3 networks and protocols, including broadcast, multicast, anycast concepts, routing, etc.
- Expert knowledge of various routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP) and multi-homing Internet circuit configuration.
- Proficient knowledge of network security methodologies as a whole, including but not limited to: ACLs, Stateful firewalls, VPNs (tunneling, IPsec, SSL, etc.).
- Fluency with common network admin and monitoring tools such as Rancid, OpenNMS, Nagios, OpManager, Wireshark, Nmap, Nessus, Netflow, Sflow etc.
- Administrative scripting skills (Perl, UNIX shell scripting).
- Advanced knowledge of Cisco IOS, NX-OS, both Cisco Nexus 1K, 2K, 5K 7K, 9K and non-Nexus series switches, Cisco routers and other Cisco networking gear.
- Working knowledge of data center related technology and collocation environment.
- Advanced knowledge of MPLS network.
- Working knowledge of Nexus 9K and VPC.
- Advanced knowledge of Forcepoint configuration.
- Advanced knowledge and experience with Routing Protocols (BGP, RIP, OSPF, etc.).
- Working knowledge of Palo Alto Global Protect VPN.
- Advanced knowledge and hands-on experience on Cisco Network Devices automation.
- Working knowledge of Ansible or Python scripting for Network automation.
- Deep domain expertise in networking, network security and public/private clouds.
- Working knowledge deploying and maintaining wireless networks.
- Expert knowledge of AWS services i.e. EC2, ELB, RDS, S3, Route53, VPC, Cloud formation, SSM and Transit gateway.
- Working knowledge of deploying and maintaining Microsoft Team PBX VOIP deployments (network side, not telecom), SIP Trunking and Five 9 Content Center.
- Working knowledge of managing network service and similar support providers in a client/vendor relationship.
Preferred Qualifications
- Advance hands-on experience in Palo Alto firewall, F5 LTM, GTM and WAF.
- Advance hands-on experience in AWS cloud.
- Extensive hands-on experience in automation with Ansible, CloudFormation or Terraform.
- AWS solution architect certification and CCNP certification required.
- Deep knowledge in Forcepoint.
Desired Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in a technical field (e.g. Computer Science, IT, or similar disciplines).
- Equivalent work experience implementing and operating enterprise level data center and/or office networks.
- Experience operating in a modern cloud environment such as AWS, GCP, or Azure or large scale data centers is a plus.
- CCNP is the very minimum requirement. CCIE R&S, or CCIE data center certifications and AWS certified solutions architect is a big plus.
What we offer:
In addition to a rewarding career, IMS offers a wide range of benefits to its employees, including:
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
- Personal and Family Sick Time
- 11 Company Paid Holidays
- Medical & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
- Group Life & Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance
- Group Short Term Disability Insurance
- Voluntary Life Insurance, Long Term Disability Insurance, Accident Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance
- Personal Development & Learning Opportunities
- Skills Development & Certifications
- Employee Referral Program
- Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
- Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus
Integrated Management Strategies is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, pregnancy, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for the employment process, please email your request to hr@im-strat.com
E-Verify® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This business uses E-Verify in its hiring practices to achieve a lawful workforce. www.dhs.gov/E-Verify
The salary range provided for this position is a nationwide market range and represents a broad range of salaries for this role across the country. The actual salary rate for this position will be determined by a number of factors, including, scope, complexity, and location of the role; the skills, education, training, credentials, and experience of the candidate, and other conditions of employment.
See all OPT Network Architect Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Network Architect Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship in Network Architect
Target enterprises with large IT infrastructure footprints
Companies managing multi-site networks, data centers, or hybrid cloud environments hire Network Architects regularly and have established immigration processes. These employers are far more likely to sponsor H-1B visas after your OPT period ends.
Lead with certifications alongside your degree
CCIE, CCNP, or AWS Advanced Networking credentials signal hands-on depth that generic degree holders lack. OPT employers in this field use certifications to benchmark technical readiness before committing to a sponsorship investment.
Emphasize your STEM OPT eligibility upfront
Network Architecture typically falls under CIP codes qualifying for the 24-month STEM extension, giving employers three years total. Mentioning this early in outreach removes the biggest hesitation sponsors have about hiring OPT candidates.
Frame your experience around business impact, not just technical specs
Hiring managers sponsoring OPT candidates want strategic thinkers. Quantify outcomes: network uptime improvements, cost reductions from consolidation, or latency gains from redesigns. Business-framed results make sponsorship feel like a sound investment.
Prioritize consulting and systems integration firms
Firms like Accenture, Deloitte, and Booz Allen Hamilton hire Network Architects at scale and have dedicated immigration teams. Volume hiring across multiple clients makes the sponsorship process more routine and less daunting for recruiters.
Time your job search around your OPT start date
Network Architect roles often require 60-to-90-day notice periods and multi-round interviews. Starting your search three to four months before your OPT authorization date prevents gaps and gives employers a realistic onboarding timeline.
Network Architect OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I work as a Network Architect on OPT?
Yes, as long as your role is directly related to your degree field. A Network Architect position typically satisfies the practical training requirement for degrees in computer science, information technology, electrical engineering, or telecommunications. Your DSO must verify the job qualifies before you begin, so confirm the connection between your coursework and the role before accepting an offer.
Does a Network Architect job qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
Network Architect roles almost always qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension, provided your degree is on the STEM Designated Degree Program List and your employer is enrolled in E-Verify. Most computer science, IT, and engineering programs meet the CIP code requirement. You must file Form I-765 at least 90 days before your current OPT expires, and your employer must sign a training plan on Form I-983.
How do I find Network Architect jobs where employers are open to OPT sponsorship?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically for candidates on OPT and visa sponsorship, so you're not wasting applications on employers who won't consider your work authorization. Network Architect roles at cloud providers, large enterprises, and consulting firms appear regularly. Searching by employer sponsorship history saves significant time compared to cold-applying and discovering the limitation at the offer stage.
What degree field do I need to qualify for OPT as a Network Architect?
Your degree should be in computer science, information technology, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or a closely related technical field. The job title alone is not what matters for OPT eligibility. USCIS and your DSO evaluate whether the role's core responsibilities, such as designing network infrastructure, evaluating routing protocols, or planning security architecture, connect directly to your area of study.
Will employers sponsor my H-1B after my Network Architect OPT period ends?
Many do, particularly large technology companies, defense contractors, and consulting firms that hire Network Architects in volume. Employers who invest in training you during OPT have a strong incentive to retain you through H-1B sponsorship. Focusing your OPT job search on companies with established immigration programs, rather than startups or small businesses without dedicated HR infrastructure, meaningfully improves your odds of sponsorship continuity.