Network Consultant

1.1. Role purpose

The Network Consultant is the practice’s lead for enterprise and data centre networking. The role designs and assesses network architectures for private cloud, data centre migration, and resilience programmes, and leads structured network assessments covering maturity, resilience, capacity, and lifecycle across client estates and regional office footprints.

1.2. Key responsibilities

• Leads technical solutioning for network transformation, data centre network, and network assessment opportunities, including scope definition, effort estimation, and bill of materials development.
• Develops proposal content, network architectures, and statements of work for RFI/RFP/RFQ responses.
• Produces high-level and low-level designs for data centre fabrics (spine-leaf, EVPN-VXLAN), campus and branch networks, WAN and SD-WAN, and data centre interconnect.
• Leads network readiness assessments (NRA) and network maturity assessments (NMA), including capability-maturity-based evaluations, resilience assessments across production and DR sites, configuration and lifecycle audits, and capacity and performance reviews.
• Designs data centre connectivity and interconnect solutions, including data centre interconnect for migration, consolidation, and multi-site resilience programmes.
• Designs network migration and cutover plans for data centre migration, consolidation, and role-swap programmes, including wave sequencing and rollback planning.
• Advises on network security architecture in collaboration with the security domain, including segmentation, microsegmentation (including VMware NSX), and firewall placement.
• Designs supporting network services, including load balancing and application delivery (F5, Citrix ADC), DNS/DHCP/IPAM, and out-of-band management.
• Supports account teams in client presentations, technical clarifications, and proof-of-concept activities.
• Maintains network assessment methodologies, design templates, and estimation models.
• Tracks vendor roadmaps (Cisco, Arista, Juniper, Huawei, SD-WAN vendors) and advises on technology positioning.
• Mentors junior network engineers and contributes to internal enablement.

1.3. To thrive in this role, you need to have

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills are a must, including confident presentation to IT management and C-level audiences
• Proven ability to gather business requirements and translate them into technical requirements
• Proven ability to translate technical requirements into a compelling solution proposal
• A solution-centric rather than product-centric mindset, recommending the approach that best meets the client’s requirements
• Strong document authoring capability, covering assessment reports, proposal documents, requirements documents, and solution specifications
• Proven ability to conduct workshops and stakeholder interviews, gather and structure information, and produce assessment reports and findings from raw data such as logs, configurations, and inventory
• Strong understanding of enterprise and data centre networking technologies
• Solid understanding of routing and switching fundamentals, including BGP, OSPF, multicast, and QoS
• Excellent understanding of high-availability design across dual data centre and DR topologies
• Service consulting aptitude, focusing on the business, service, and sales aspects
• A methodical approach to assessment evidence gathering, findings substantiation, and cutover planning
• Up-to-date knowledge of data centre fabric, SD-WAN, and network automation developments
• High level of drive, remaining calm under pressure during migration windows and client escalations
• Ability to build and maintain cross-functional relationships with a variety of stakeholders
• Understanding of relevant regulatory and compliance frameworks in ASEAN financial services, including BNM RMiT and MAS TRM

1.4. Academic qualifications and certifications

• Bachelor’s degree or diploma, or equivalent, in Information Technology, Computer Science, Telecommunications, Engineering, or a related field.
• Industry relevant certifications such as Cisco CCNP (Enterprise or Data Center), Huawei HCIP (Datacom or Data Center Network), or Juniper JNCIP essential.
• Cisco CCIE, Huawei HCIE, F5 certifications, and SD-WAN vendor specialisations (Cisco, VMware, Fortinet) advantageous.

1.5. Desirable experience

The following experience is advantageous rather than mandatory:

• Demonstrable experience in enterprise networking, with substantial experience in consulting, pre-sales, or network architecture roles.
• Experience with data centre networking platforms (Cisco Nexus/ACI, Arista, Juniper, Huawei CloudEngine), with strong command of EVPN-VXLAN and spine-leaf design.
• Experience with SD-WAN platforms (Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) and traditional MPLS WAN design.
• Experience leading network assessments or audits and producing structured findings and roadmap deliverables.
• Experience planning and executing network cutovers within data centre migration programmes.