STEM OPT Network Architect Jobs
Network Architect roles qualify for STEM OPT because they sit under CIP codes tied to computer science, information systems, and electrical engineering degrees. Your 24-month STEM OPT extension gives you up to 36 months total to work for any employer enrolled in E-Verify, with no lottery and no employer petition required.
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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 Network Architect jobs
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding STEM OPT Authorization in Network Architect
Verify your CIP code before applying
Check that your degree's CIP code maps to an approved STEM designation. Network Architecture roles typically align with computer science, computer engineering, or information systems programs. Your DSO confirms the match on your updated I-20 before filing the STEM OPT extension.
Confirm E-Verify enrollment before accepting offers
Your employer must be actively enrolled in E-Verify, not just registered. Ask the recruiter or HR contact to confirm their E-Verify Company ID during the offer stage, before you sign anything. USCIS requires active enrollment, not just intent to enroll.
Target employers with active H-1B LCA filings
Network Architect roles require specialty occupation experience that maps well to H-1B sponsorship. Use Migrate Mate to find employers with verified DOL Labor Condition Application filing history in network engineering and architecture, so you're applying where sponsorship pathways already exist.
Build an I-983 training plan around Cisco or SASE projects
Your I-983 must tie learning objectives to your STEM degree, not just job duties. Frame training goals around specific technical competencies, like software-defined networking or zero-trust architecture, that connect directly to your computer science or engineering coursework.
Use OFLC Wage Search to benchmark your offer
The DOL sets prevailing wage tiers for Network Architect roles by geography and experience level. Pull the Level II or Level III wage for your metro using OFLC Wage Search before your offer negotiation so you can verify your compensation meets the regulatory floor.
Time your STEM OPT filing to avoid authorization gaps
File your STEM OPT extension with USCIS at least 90 days before your initial OPT EAD expires. A timely filing gives you a 180-day automatic extension of work authorization if USCIS hasn't adjudicated by your EAD end date.
Network Architect jobs are hiring across the US. Find yours.
Find Network Architect JobsFrequently Asked Questions
Does a Network Architect role qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
Yes, as long as your degree falls under an approved STEM CIP code and the role requires applying that STEM knowledge. Network Architect positions draw on computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or information systems degrees, all of which commonly appear on the STEM Designated Degree Program List. Your DSO verifies the CIP code match when updating your I-20 for the extension.
What E-Verify requirement applies to my employer for STEM OPT?
Your employer must be enrolled in E-Verify before your STEM OPT extension begins. Enrollment at the time of hire isn't sufficient if it lapses. You can ask HR for the company's E-Verify Company ID to confirm active status. If your employer isn't enrolled, you can't use STEM OPT authorization at that job, regardless of the role.
What goes into the I-983 training plan for a Network Architect position?
The I-983 must identify specific learning objectives tied to your STEM degree, not just describe your job duties. For a Network Architect, that means articulating how your work in areas like network design, security architecture, or cloud infrastructure directly applies skills from your computer science or engineering program. Your employer's supervisor and your DSO both sign off on the plan before you submit.
How does cap-gap protection work if I get an H-1B petition filed while on STEM OPT?
If your employer files an H-1B petition on your behalf before your STEM OPT EAD expires and you're selected in the lottery, cap-gap automatically extends your work authorization through September 30 of that fiscal year. You can continue working as a Network Architect during that period without interruption. USCIS does not issue a new EAD for cap-gap; your existing authorization continues by operation of law.
Where can I find Network Architect jobs at employers who already hire STEM OPT students?
Migrate Mate filters Network Architect roles by employers with verified E-Verify enrollment and DOL LCA filing history in network engineering occupations. That means you're not cold-applying to companies unfamiliar with STEM OPT requirements. You can also cross-reference the O*NET occupation profile for Network Architects to understand which degree fields and job zone classifications support your application.
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