Role profile
Network architect
Also called: Network engineer (senior) · Cloud network architect · Solutions architect (networking) · Infrastructure architect (overlaps) · Network security architect
Network architects design the networks that connect an organization's offices, data centers and cloud environments, and plan how they grow and stay secure. Telecom carriers, IT consulting firms, large enterprises, cloud providers and government agencies are the main employers.
- Median pay, 2025
- $134,050
- $79,900 to $202,680 (10th to 90th percentile)
- US jobs, 2025
- 181,800
- Computer Network Architects
- Outlook, 2025-35
- +8%
- Much faster than average
- Typical entry
- Bachelor's degree
- Experience: 5 years or more
What the work looks like
- Design network layouts for new offices, data centers or cloud regions, including addressing, routing and segmentation.
- Plan capacity based on traffic data and business growth, and decide when to upgrade links or hardware.
- Evaluate and select routers, switches, firewalls, SD-WAN products and carrier contracts.
- Design connectivity between on-premises sites and cloud providers, such as VPNs and dedicated interconnects.
- Write design documents and change plans, then hand them to network engineers for implementation.
- Work with security teams on segmentation, zero trust access and firewall policy.
- Act as the final escalation point for hard outages and routing problems.
How people get in
The BLS lists a bachelor's degree plus five or more years of related experience as typical. Almost nobody is hired straight into this title: the usual path is help desk or network support, then network administrator or engineer, then senior engineer, then architect.
Some employers will accept experience without a degree and some prefer a master's, so the degree requirement varies more than the headline suggests. What does not vary is the need for deep hands-on routing and switching knowledge.
Vendor certifications carry real weight here because employers often require certification in the gear they run. A Cisco CCNA is a common early milestone; cloud networking knowledge from AWS, Azure or Google Cloud is now expected for most architect roles.
Skills employers ask for
- TCP/IP and subnetting
- BGP and OSPF
- VLANs and switching
- Firewalls and network segmentation
- VPNs and SD-WAN
- Cloud networking (VPCs, peering, interconnects)
- Network monitoring tools
- Python or Ansible for network automation
- Wireless network design
- Technical documentation and diagramming
Outlook to 2035
The BLS projects 8% growth from 2025 to 2035, labeled much faster than average, with about 9,600 openings a year. Demand comes from organizations building and upgrading networks, including cloud and hybrid setups. More of the routine configuration is automated or handled by cloud providers, which pushes the remaining work toward design and makes automation skills more valuable.
How the pay compares
Network architect highlighted against the other 13 roles we track.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Computer Network Architects. Pay is 2025 median annual wage; outlook is projected employment change 2025-35.