802.1, 802.11, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Address Management, Amazon CloudFront, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Ansible, Antenna, Apple Macs, Apple Networks, Application Programming Interface (API), Architectural Design, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Asset Management, Authentication, Automation, BGP, BGP Routing Protocol, Budgeting, CCIE - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, CCNP - Cisco Certified Network Professional, Capacity Management, Centralized Operations/Management, Chef (Configuration Management), Cisco Catalyst Switches, Cisco Network Systems, Cisco Nexus Switches, Cloud Architecture, Cloud Computing, Configuration Management, Continuous Deployment/Delivery, Continuous Integration, Corporate Policies, DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), DMZ, DNS (Domain Name System), Distributed Computing, Diversity, Emulators, Ethernet, Firewalls, Fleet Management, GraphQL, Hardware Quality Assurance, Health Maintenance, Home Automation, Hybrid Cloud, IP (Internet Protocol), IPsec (IP Security), IPv4, IPv6, Identify Issues, Incident Response, Intellectual Property (IP), Internet of Things, Knowledge Modeling, Laboratory, Linux Operating System, Load Balancing, MIMO, Mac OS Networks, Mac Operating System, Machine Tool, Media Access Control (MAC), Metrics, Microsoft Windows Operating System, Network Access Control (NAC), Network Administration/Management, Network Architecture/Engineering, Network Bridges, Network Configuration Management, Network Connectivity, Network Design, Network Integration, Network Monitoring, Network Operations Center, Network Performance/Analysis, Network Routing, Network Security, Network Security Design, Network Support, Network Testing, Network Topology, Onboarding, Ontology, Open Shortest Path First Protocol (OSPF), Performance Management, Performance Tuning/Optimization, Production Systems, Prototyping, RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service), REST (Representational State Transfer), RFC, Radio Frequency, Reliability Testing, Remote Access, Reporting Dashboards, SSL-TLS (Secure Socket Layer - Transport Layer Security), Security Architecture, Security Monitoring, Security Policy, Shaft/Tunnel Construction, Software Patches, Subnet, System Migration, Telemetry, Test Data, Test Plan/Schedule, Topology, USB, VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network), VPN (Virtual Private Network), Vehicle Fleets, Vendor/Supplier Diversity, Wearables, Wi-Fi, Wireless Communications, Wireless LAN, Workforce Management
Overview:
TekWissen is a global workforce management provider headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan that offers strategic talent solutions to our clients world-wide.
Title: RL Lab Network Architect
Duration: 12 Months
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Job Type: Temporary Assignment
Work Type: Onsite
Role Summary
We are seeking an experienced Network Architect to design, deploy, operate, and optimize the network infrastructure underpinning Reality Labs (RL) Device Farm operations globally. This role owns the full network lifecycle - from prototyping new fabric designs and connectivity solutions through mass deployment across lab sites, day-to-day operations, and continuous optimization. You will architect the network layer that connects thousands of devices (VR headsets, AR glasses, wearables), diverse host platforms (Linux, Windows, macOS), wireless access infrastructure (WiFi 5/6/6E/7, cellular), and cloud/production environments (AWS, corporate networks) - all while enabling AI-driven automation through an intelligent ontology and agent framework.
Phase Network - Architect Responsibilities
Prototyping - Design new network topologies, evaluate next-gen technologies (WiFi 7, EVPN-VXLAN, IPv6 transition), architect connectivity solutions for emerging device types, build PoCs for agent-driven network automation
Mass Deploy - Scale network designs across 8+ global lab sites; define fabric provisioning automation, SSID rollouts, VLAN configurations, security policy enforcement, and AWS hybrid connectivity
Operation - Maintain network health - monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana, time-series metrics), incident response, capacity planning, WiFi performance management, troubleshooting device connectivity, managing firewall rules and security policies
Optimization - Analyze network telemetry to improve throughput, reduce latency, optimize WiFi roaming, tune 464XLAT performance, eliminate single points of failure, and evolve the fabric architecture
Core Responsibilities and Required Skills
1. Network Fabric Architecture
You will design and maintain Clos-topology data center fabrics for lab environments.
Skills Required:
Clos/Leaf-Spine Design - multi-stage fabric architecture, spine redundancy (2 per pod), rack-level leaf switches, border leaf gateway design
EVPN-VXLAN - L2/L3 overlay configuration, VNI mapping, multi-tenancy, route-type understanding (Type-2/5)
Routing Protocols - BGP (eBGP underlay, iBGP overlay), OSPF, route filtering, prefix advertisement
VLAN Architecture - designing segmented networks for control plane, data plane, internet access, emulator environments, and remote rendering
IPv6 Networking - SLAAC, DHCPv6, 464XLAT (CLAT/PLAT), IP-per-Task, prefix delegation, dual-stack design
Switch Platforms - Arista, Cisco Nexus/Catalyst, configuration management at scale
Network Automation - infrastructure-as-code for fabric provisioning, templated configs, zero-touch deployment
2. Wireless Architecture (WiFi and Cellular)
You will architect wireless connectivity for thousands of test devices across RF-isolated and open-air environments.
Skills Required:
WiFi 5/6/6E/7 - 802.11ac/ax/be protocol expertise, channel planning (2.4/5/6 GHz), MU-MIMO, OFDMA, MLO (Multi-Link Operation for WiFi 7)
Wireless LAN Controllers - Cisco WLC 9800 (CAPWAP tunnel termination, policy enforcement, RF management)
Next-Gen Wireless - Arista Cognitive Unified Edge (CUE), distributed control/data plane, on-prem management migration from centralized WLC
Access Point Management - Cisco 9130 (WiFi 5), Cisco 9166 (WiFi 6E), Arista C-460 (WiFi 7 tri-radio), PoE/PoE+/UPoE/PoE++ power budgeting
SSID Design - band-specific SSIDs, authentication method selection (CBA vs. iPSK), migration planning
RF Engineering - RF chamber isolation, interference mitigation, signal propagation in shielded environments
Cellular (4G/5G) - small cell deployment (e.g., Amarisoft), DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems), programmable RF attenuation, eNB/gNB configuration
Network Authentication - Certificate-Based Auth (CBA/EAP-TLS), iPSK (WPA3 identity pre-shared key), 802.1X, RADIUS
3. Network Security and Access Control
You will implement and manage network security policies across all lab environments.
Skills Required:
802.1X / EAP-TLS - device certificate authentication, RADIUS integration, certificate lifecycle management
MAC Authentication (MAB) - allowlisting, device registration workflows, random MAC handling
Firewall Design - zone-based policies, corporate-to-production segmentation, ACLs
IPsec/VPN - secure tunnel design for remote lab access, site-to-site connectivity
Network Segmentation - isolation between lab types (internet-connected vs. air-gapped), production/corporate/lab boundaries
Compliance Enforcement - staged security rollouts (MAC-based auth through certificate-based auth)
4. Host Network Connectivity
You will ensure reliable network connectivity for diverse host platforms running device automation.
Skills Required:
Linux Networking - bonding, VLAN tagging, IPv6 configuration, bridge interfaces for USB-Ethernet, network namespaces for container-per-device isolation
Windows Networking - PC-VR streaming hosts: mDNS configuration, low-latency network tuning for remote rendering
macOS Networking - Mac Mini hosts for AR glasses: WiFi 6E client configuration, Thunderbolt networking
Host Provisioning - configuration management (Chef/Ansible) for network setup, container networking (Nomad/Kubernetes), API-driven IP prefix delegation
USB-Ethernet Bridging - host-to-device network bridging for air-gapped labs, managed USB hub integration
mDNS/Service Discovery - enabling device-host discovery for remote rendering workflows
5. Device Connectivity Architecture
You will design network connectivity solutions for the full spectrum of RL devices.
Skills Required:
VR Device Networking - WiFi connectivity for VR headsets, OTA update channels, streaming protocols
AR Device Networking - Smart glasses: WiFi 6E requirements, phone-tethered connectivity, Bluetooth coexistence
Wearables Networking - Wristbands and watches: BLE (Nordic dongle constellation), cellular (LTE Cat-M/NB-IoT), WiFi
Device Onboarding - automated WiFi provisioning, SSID selection APIs, MAC registration workflows
Random MAC Handling - iPSK-based VLAN exemption for devices with randomized MAC addresses
RF Chamber Networking - 1:1 host:AP:device isolation, dedicated CAPWAP tunnels per chamber, PoE switch management
6. AWS and Cloud Connectivity
You will architect hybrid cloud connectivity between lab infrastructure and AWS.
Skills Required:
AWS VPC Design - subnet architecture, security groups, NACLs, multi-AZ design for lab workload redundancy
Hybrid Connectivity - AWS Direct Connect or VPN to corporate/production networks, transit gateway architecture
AWS Networking Services - Route 53 (DNS), ELB/ALB (load balancing), CloudFront, PrivateLink for service endpoints
IAM and Network Security - least-privilege access, cross-account networking, VPC peering, endpoint policies
Cloud-to-Lab Integration - enabling lab devices to reach cloud services (S3 for artifacts, EC2 for compute), traffic routing through corporate boundaries
Monitoring - VPC Flow Logs, CloudWatch metrics, integration with on-prem observability platforms for unified visibility
7. Production and Corporate Network Integration
You will manage the boundaries between lab, corporate, and production networks.
Skills Required:
Cross-Plane Connectivity - gateway design between corporate and production environments (DMZ, proxy-based access)
Object Storage Access - enabling lab hosts to reach production storage systems for build artifacts and test data
Container Orchestration Connectivity - network paths to container platforms for CI/CD job execution and device automation workers
Firewall Policy - firewall rule management, forward proxy configuration, intercept proxy rules
464XLAT Implementation - PLAT on border leaf for IPv4-over-IPv6 translation (RFC 6877), enabling legacy IPv4 apps on IPv6-only lab networks
DNS Architecture - lab-specific DNS zones, split-horizon resolution, service discovery
8. Ontology, Agents, and Network Automation
You will define the network knowledge model and enable AI-driven network operations.
Skills Required:
Ontology/Knowledge Modeling - defining network entity relationships (AP to WLC to VLAN to Fabric to Site), properties, and constraints
AI Agent Integration - enabling LLM-based agents to query and act on network state for automated diagnostics and remediation
Network Observability - time-series metrics for switch/AP health, event analytics for connectivity issues, capacity dashboards
Automated Diagnostics - building self-service connectivity troubleshooting tools powered by AI/ML
Data Catalog - maintaining network data sources (IP address management, device registry, asset tracking)
API Design - RESTful/GraphQL APIs for network entity queries, SSID selection, and device provisioning
9. Test Infrastructure Network Support
You will ensure network reliability for the test execution pipeline.
Skills Required:
Test Framework Awareness - understanding network requirements of CI/CD test scheduling systems (internet vs. isolated, WiFi vs. USB-Ethernet)
Pool-Based Networking - network classification driving device pool allocation (general pools, internet-required pools, wired-only pools)
Network Remediation - automated WiFi reconnection, AP health checks, VLAN verification
Performance Tuning - reducing WiFi-related test flakiness, optimizing DHCP/SLAAC response times, minimizing connectivity setup latency
Required Qualifications
7+ years in network architecture, network engineering, or infrastructure design roles
Expert-level network design - Clos/Leaf-Spine fabrics, EVPN-VXLAN overlays, BGP, multi-site network architecture
Deep wireless expertise - WiFi 5/6/6E/7 architecture, WLC management, RF planning, 802.1X/EAP-TLS security
IPv6 mastery - SLAAC, DHCPv6, 464XLAT (CLAT/PLAT), prefix delegation, dual-stack and IPv6-only designs
Cloud networking - AWS VPC architecture, Direct Connect/VPN, hybrid connectivity, security groups
Network security - firewall design, 802.1X, certificate-based auth, network segmentation, zero-trust principles
Automation proficiency - Python for network automation, infrastructure-as-code, API-driven provisioning
Multi-platform host networking - Linux, Windows, macOS network stack configuration and troubleshooting
Vendor diversity - Arista, Cisco (Catalyst/Nexus/WLC), hands-on CLI and API configuration
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with AI/ML-driven network operations (AIOps), LLM agents for diagnostics
Knowledge of ontology/knowledge graph design for network modeling
Cellular networking - 4G/5G small cells, Amarisoft, DAS, RF attenuation
Device farm/lab-at-scale experience - 1000+ devices, automated provisioning, fleet management
Certifications - CCIE/CCNP (Enterprise/Data Center), AWS Solutions Architect, Arista ACE
Experience scaling network infrastructure from prototype to multi-site global deployments
Background in IoT, VR/AR, or hardware test infrastructure
Collaboration
This role works cross-functionally with:
Network Infrastructure Teams - WiFi, VLANs, fabric design, AWS connectivity
Test Infrastructure Teams - CI/CD frameworks, test scheduling, device farm operations
Device Management Teams - Device provisioning, health checks, fleet tooling
Site Operations - Physical rack deployments, cabling, power
Security Teams - Network access control, patch management, compliance
Wearables and AR/VR Product Teams - New device connectivity requirements
TekWissen Group is an equal opportunity employer supporting workforce diversity.