Principal Architect, Technology - IPAM, Peering, Caching

This is a remote position.

Position Title: Principal Architect, Technology - IPAM, Peering & Caching

Base Salary: $155,000 to $230,000 annually DOE

Bonus: Target annual bonus

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, flexible spending account, paid sick leave and paid time off, parental leave, quarterly performance bonus, training, career growth and education reimbursement programs.

Ziply Fiber is a local internet service provider dedicated to elevating the connected lives of the communities we serve. We offer the fastest home internet in the nation, a refreshingly great customer experience, and affordable plans that put customers in charge. 

As our state-of-the-art fiber network expands, so does our need for team members who can help us grow and realize our goals.  

Our Company Values: 

• Genuinely Caring: We treat customers and colleagues like neighbors, with empathy and full attention. 
  

• Empowering You: We help customers choose what is best for them, and we support employees in implementing new ideas and solutions. 
  

• Innovation and Improvement: We constantly seek ways to improve how we serve customers and each other.  
  

• Earning Your Trust: We build trust through clear, honest, human communication. 
  

Job Summary

Internet performance is a competitive differentiator for Ziply Fiber, and the Principal Architect for IPAM, Peering & Caching owns three of the most direct levers: how efficiently we manage our IP address space, how well we position ourselves in the peering ecosystem, and how effectively we cache the content our subscribers want. The Principal Architect will define Ziply Fiber's IP address management architecture, build out our Internet Exchange presence and peering relationships, and design the content caching strategy that reduces transit costs while delivering the fastest possible experience to our subscribers.

Reporting to the VP, Network Architecture & Engineering, this role serves as the senior architecture authority for IP address management, peering, transit strategy, Internet Exchange participation, routing security, and content-delivery optimization.

This is a senior independent contributor role that leads through technical expertise, architecture governance, standards ownership, and cross-functional influence rather than direct people-management responsibility. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

The Essential Duties and Responsibilities listed below are a range of duties performed by the employee and not intended to reflect all duties performed.

IP Address Management

●      Own the enterprise IPAM architecture: tooling selection (NetBox, Infoblox, or equivalent), IPv4/IPv6 address plan design, allocation policy, and lifecycle management.

●      Define IPv4 conservation strategy: efficient allocation, reclamation workflows, and planning for long-term IPv4 exhaustion in a dual-stack and IPv6-only transition context.

●      Architect IPv6 address plan: PA vs. PI space strategy, allocation hierarchy, and delegation policy for residential, business, and infrastructure use cases.

●      Own RPKI/ROA deployment: route origin authorization strategy, ROA publication, and BGP route validation policy to protect Ziply's routing security posture.

●      Maintain authoritative IP registry documentation and integration with provisioning, DNS, and network management systems.

Peering & Transit

●      Define and execute Ziply's peering strategy: public and private peering policy, Internet Exchange presence (SIX, PAIX, Equinix IX, or equivalent), and route optimization.

●      Own transit provider architecture: provider selection, diversity standards, failover policy, and commercial alignment with traffic growth forecasts.

●      Manage peering relationships: technical onboarding, LOA management, route object maintenance (ARIN, IRR), and ongoing relationship health.

●      Analyze traffic matrices and peering economics to identify new peering opportunities, optimize routing, and reduce transit spend.

●      Coordinate with IP Core & Metro architect on BGP policy implementation and route propagation standards.

Content Caching

●      Design and own Ziply's content caching strategy: placement of embedded caches (Netflix OCA, Google GGC, Meta, Apple, Akamai, or equivalent) within the network to maximize cache hit rates and minimize transit egress.

●      Define cache node placement criteria: subscriber density, traffic volume thresholds, and co-location requirements for each CDN partner.

●      Manage CDN partner relationships: technical integration, cache performance monitoring, and capacity scaling agreements.

●      Analyze CDN traffic reports and cache efficiency metrics to continuously optimize placement and configuration.

●      Coordinate with Network Planning and IP Core teams to ensure caching infrastructure is reflected in capacity planning models.

Other Duties

·         Performs other duties as required to support the business and evolving organization.

Required Qualifications:

·         High school diploma or GED.

·         Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Network Engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant IP networking, peering, Internet infrastructure, transit, routing, CDN, or architecture experience.

·         10+ years of IP network engineering at an internet service provider (ISP) or broadband operator with direct ownership of IPAM, peering, and/or content caching programs.

·         Demonstrated senior independent contributor experience setting technical standards, influencing architecture direction, mentoring engineers, and driving cross-functional architecture decisions without direct people-management responsibility.

·         Expert-level BGP knowledge: peering policy, community design, route filtering, RPKI/ROA, and traffic engineering at IX scale.

·         Hands-on IPAM platform experience: NetBox, Infoblox, or equivalent — including IPv4/IPv6 address plan design and integration with network management systems.

·         Experience developing IPAM governance processes, address allocation standards, reclamation workflows, authoritative data-quality controls, and operational reporting for IPv4 and IPv6 environments.

·         Deep understanding of CDN caching architectures: embedded cache program requirements for major CDN providers (Netflix, Google, Meta, Akamai, or equivalent) and cache performance optimization.

·         Strong peering ecosystem knowledge: IX operations, route object management (IRR, ARIN), LOA workflows, and peering economics.

·         Experience with RPKI/ROA deployment and BGP route origin validation.

·         Ability to communicate complex peering, routing, IPAM, transit, CDN caching, routing-security, and Internet-performance concepts to executive, technical, operational, vendor, and non-technical audiences

Preferred Qualifications:

●      Experience with traffic engineering tools: RIPE STAT, PeeringDB, or IX traffic analytics platforms.

●      Familiarity with DNS anycast architecture for resolver infrastructure.

●      Background in transit cost optimization and peering business case development.

●      JNCIE-SP, CCIE-SP, or equivalent certification.

●      Experience presenting peering, transit, caching, Internet-performance, or routing-security strategy to VP-level or executive audiences.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

·         Ability to work independently and apply sound judgment and reasoning skills to a variety of situations.

·         Ability to multi-task and collaborate effectively with other personnel to meet deadlines.

·         Strong verbal and written communication, attention to detail, and organizational skills.

·         Ability to work within critical deadlines.

·         Ability to adjust to rapidly changing priorities and schedules.

·         Ability to provide excellent customer service.

·         Senior technical leadership skills with the ability to influence Internet architecture, routing policy, IPAM governance, peering strategy, and content-delivery decisions without direct people-management authority.

·         Strong analytical and systems-thinking skills with the ability to balance routing resiliency, Internet performance, peering economics, IP address utilization, cache efficiency, customer experience, operational risk, and cost.

·         Executive presence and communication skills to explain complex IPAM, peering, transit, RPKI/ROA, CDN caching, and Internet-performance decisions clearly and credibly to Technology, Operations, Finance, Legal, vendors, and senior leadership.

Work Authorization

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US for any employer. Sponsorship is not available for this position.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Essential and marginal functions may require maintaining physical condition necessary for bending, stooping, sitting, walking, or standing for prolonged periods of time; most of time is spent sitting in a comfortable position with frequent opportunity to move about. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

Work is performed in an office setting with exposure to computer screens and requires extensive use of a computer, keyboard, mouse, and multi-line telephone system. The work is primarily a modern office setting.

At all times, Ziply Fiber must be your primary employer. Unless otherwise prohibited by law, employees may not hold outside employment nor be self-employed without obtaining approval in writing from Ziply Fiber. In holding outside employment or self-employment, employees should ensure that participation does not conflict with responsibilities to Ziply Fiber or its business interests.

Diverse Workforce / EEO:

Ziply Fiber is an equal opportunity employer. Ziply Fiber will consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status, and the presence of a non-job-related handicap or disability or any other legally protected status.

Ziply Fiber requires a pre-employment background check as conditions of employment. Ziply Fiber may require a pre-employment drug screening.

Ziply Fiber is a drug free workplace.