Network Architect - International

The Role

The Network Architect - International provides expert technical leadership and architectural direction for the organisation’s global subsea and international connectivity portfolio.

This role assists the Director of Architecture in shaping the technical end-to-end design, integration, and evolution of international cable systems, ensuring they meet long-term performance, security, and resilience requirements. The role works across borders, consortia, and technology domains to define architectures that support research, commercial, and national strategic objectives.

The successful candidate will be comfortable preparing and presenting technical solutions and will be an independent and self-sufficient worker with the ability to think on their feet and solve problems as they arise. Travel may be required within Australia and internationally. 

Responsibilities

• Define the technical architecture for international submarine cable systems, including optical design, landing station integration, and terrestrial backhaul alignment.
• Develop multiyear architectural roadmaps that incorporate emerging technologies, capacity growth, and geopolitical considerations.
• Procure, support and manage international colocation environments.
• Provide authoritative guidance on route diversity, system topology, and long-term infrastructure resilience.
• Translate organisational strategy into coherent architectural principles and standards for global connectivity.
• Lead the technical design of new submarine cable builds, upgrades, and expansions.
• Lead the technical design of international transit and peering capacity requirements.
• Work closely with optical and routed network operations teams to ensure architectural intent is maintained throughout operational lifecycle.
• Provide expert guidance during major incidents, complex optical faults, or subsea system anomalies.
• Support root cause analysis, restoration planning, and long-term corrective actions.
• Ensure operational insights feed back into architectural standards, resilience planning, and future system designs.
• Specify routing systems, optical transmission systems, SDM architectures, repeaters, branching units, and open cable system components.
• Oversee engineering assessments, feasibility studies, and vendor technical evaluations.
• Ensure designs comply with international standards, environmental requirements, and security frameworks.
• Represent the organisation as a senior technical authority in global cable consortia, engineering and operational management committees, and international working groups.
• Collaborate with carriers, hyperscalers, research networks, and government stakeholders to align architectural decisions.
• Provide expert input into cross border operational agreements, capacity planning, and joint build technical frameworks.
• Influence industry direction through participation in standards bodies and technology forums.
• Embed cybersecurity, physical security, and critical infrastructure protection requirements into all architectural designs.
• Ensure alignment with frameworks such as AESCSF, ISO 27001, and NIST CSF.
• Architect redundancy, protection schemes, and monitoring capabilities to mitigate natural, accidental, or malicious disruptions.
• Conduct architectural risk assessments for geopolitical, environmental, and supply chain exposures.
• Establish and maintain architectural standards, design patterns, and technical governance processes for subsea systems.
• Review and approve engineering designs, vendor proposals, and system modifications in line with change management controls.
• Provide expert oversight during construction, commissioning, and lifecycle upgrades.
• Ensure architectural integrity across multivendor, multi country environments.
• Review vendor and consortium invoices to ensure alignment with technical scope, delivery milestones, and contractual obligations.
• Validate that billed activities, equipment, and services match approved designs, engineering specifications, and project deliverables.
• Provide technical input into contract interpretation, change requests, and dispute resolution.
• Support procurement and commercial teams by contributing architectural requirements to RFPs, contracts, and service agreements.
• Monitor vendor performance against contractual SLAs, technical standards, and compliance commitments.
• Mentor engineering teams and uplift organisational capability in submarine cable architecture and international transit and peering capacity.
• Provide clear technical direction to project managers, operations teams, and international partners.
• Contribute to internal training, documentation, and architectural knowledge frameworks.

Expertise, experience & qualifications

• Extensive experience in submarine cable engineering, optical network architecture, or large‑scale international telecommunications.
• Deep technical expertise in subsea system design, optical transmission, and landing station integration.
• Demonstrated ability to lead architecture across multi country, multistakeholder environments.
• Strong understanding of cybersecurity, critical infrastructure protection, and regulatory compliance.
• Proven capability to interpret and assure technical aspects of contracts, invoices, and vendor obligations.
• Excellent communication skills, able to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Experience in research and education networks, global carriers, or government connectivity programs.
• Knowledge of international connectivity dynamics and international regulatory frameworks.
• Postgraduate qualifications in engineering, telecommunications, or related fields.
• Australian Resident.
• Valid Australian Driver’s License.
• Advantageous to hold an existing Security Clearance or have an ability to obtain a Security Clearance (as an Australian Citizen).

Important skills

• Operational engagement and complex fault escalation — working closely with optical and routing network operations teams, providing architectural guidance during major incidents, and supporting resolution of complex subsea or international faults.
• Deep submarine cable engineering expertise — wet plant, dry plant, marine operations, and system design.
• Advanced optical and routing network architecture — coherent optics, SDM, wavelength planning, routing and multi‑vendor integration.
• End to end systems thinking — designing architectures spanning subsea, terrestrial backhaul, data centres, transit and peering.
• Security and critical infrastructure protection — embedding AESCSF, ISO 27001, NIST CSF, and resilience principles into designs.
• Risk and resilience engineering — assessing geopolitical, environmental, and supply chain risks; designing redundancy and protection.
• International collaboration and consortium engagement — influencing technical decisions across multi country, multistakeholder environments.
• Cross cultural communication and stakeholder influence — conveying complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Commercial and contractual literacy — reviewing invoices, validating deliverables, interpreting technical obligations, and supporting procurement.
• Strategic architectural planning — developing long-term roadmaps, evaluating emerging technologies, and modelling capacity evolution.
• Technical leadership and knowledge development — guiding teams, mentoring engineers, and maintaining architectural standards.

Conditions of employment

AARNet is committed to diversity and providing equal opportunity to all. We’re a great place to work if you want to make a difference. Remuneration will be based on skills and experience and will include an above market superannuation package.