- Learn from senior network architects and become one
- No micromanagement, own your projects end to end
- Hybrid setup, mostly work from home once you're delivering
This one's for the network craftsman who'd rather build than babysit.
You know the type. You'd rather be deep in a complex routing design than fielding tickets, and you take pride in clean, well-documented work that the next engineer thanks you for. If that's you, keep reading.
It's a senior networking role with a Perth IT consultancy in the southern suburbs. They do serious project work for mid-tier and enterprise clients across local government, mining, and private companies, typically 200 to 4,000 seats. They also do mining camp installs and remote comms, which keeps things varied.
You'll design and deliver your own networking projects end to end. Most of the time you'll run with it yourself, but there are network architects around when you want to pressure-test a design. You'll sit at a client's boardroom table and explain your approach, then go back to the keyboard and implement it. Projects run from a few weeks to a few months, so you're not stuck on the same environment for years.
It's not BAU. It's the design-and-build middle ground where the work is interesting and the kit is big, but not "need a team of 20 people and 2 years to deliver it" big.
What you'll need to be good at
Routing and switching, properly. Confident across Cisco, Fortinet, HP, and Dell. BGP and OSPF in production. Site-to-site IPSec and DMVPN you've actually implemented, not just read about. And real wireless experience with Cisco or Aruba. Cisco ISE, Aruba ClearPass and 802.1x projects are all part of the fun.
These won't disqualify you if missing, but they'll help:
- SD-WAN design (Fortinet preferred, but other tech runs across the customer base)
- Redundant fabric (vPC, MC-LAG)
- SAN and storage fabric (iSCSI, FC, DAS)
- Datacentre failover (SAN replication, SRM)
- VMware vSphere and Veeam
The role does spill over into VMware infrastructure, which keeps it varied.
The other half of the job is documentation. Proposals, project plans, design docs, proper as-builts. They take this seriously. If documentation feels like a chore you skip, this won't be your place.
CCNA/CCNP, Fortinet certs, and VCP-DCV are all welcome. Not deal-breakers either way, but a sign you take the craft seriously.
About the company and the people
The technical leader is properly into this stuff. The kind of person you'll lose an hour with debating solution options for an end client. Their reputation is built on doing professional, well-engineered work across networking, cloud, security, and infrastructure for mid-tier and government clients. They punch above their weight and the clients know it.
I've placed plenty of engineers there. They tend to stay. The reason is simple: trust and flexibility. Once you're delivering and comfortable, you manage your own time and your own projects, mostly from home if that suits you. No micromanagement. Just real ownership with architects on call when you want a sounding board.
Who this probably isn't for
If you want pure pre-sales, prefer BAU or support work, or want to coast on the same few environments, this one isn't it. They expect technical interest and high standards.
The next step
You don't have to be at full architect level today. If you've got the foundations and the appetite to grow, they'll get you there. What's not negotiable is real experience in networks and infrastructure projects. That's what'll see you through the interview.
If that sounds like you, hit apply. We'll have a quick confidential phone or video chat and take it from there.