Gateway Solutions Architect – Secure Network Access (Government Contract, Secret Clearance) Location Ottawa, ON (National Capital Region) — On-site Job Type Contract, Full-Time — 3 openings (up to 240 billable days/year, 2-year initial term, with likely renewal) Clearance Required SECRET (Canadian or U.S. citizens only)

About the Opportunity Three openings for senior architects who live at the edge — where enterprise networks meet remote access, cryptography, and border protection. A Government of Canada national-security client needs experienced hands to design and stand up gateway infrastructure that keeps deployed and remote users securely connected into classified networks. What You'll Do Build technical architectures and strategies that satisfy both enterprise and field-deployed network requirements. Turn business requirements into concrete system designs and specifications. Design enterprise gateway solutions and brief technical leadership on your recommendations. Build and integrate deployed network solutions end to end. Stand up and maintain a working gateway test environment. Evaluate competing gateway approaches against real operational requirements. Contribute to business cases, feasibility studies, and requirements documentation for deployed network/kit projects. Draft engineering plans, requirement/design specs, impact assessments, and options analyses. Own implementation planning, life-cycle support planning, SOPs, CONOPS, and RFCs. Take ownership of 3rd- and 4th-line troubleshooting on Cisco and Juniper gear — routers, switches, crypto, firewalls, gateways, proxies. Present technical findings and write papers on gateway, network, and security topics for technical and non-technical audiences. Mentor and upskill teammates as the program grows. What You Bring (Required) 10+ years (within the last 15) across IP routers/switches, enterprise border protection (RRAS, IDS, VPN, firewalls), and cryptographic technologies — hands-on design through support. 2+ years within the last 5 on classified (SECRET) networks. 5+ years building technology strategy and architecture options analyses. 5+ years leading or advising a project team against schedule and cost targets. 5+ years producing systems engineering documentation. 5+ years with dynamic multipoint VPN in a WAN environment running BGP, OSPF, and MPLS over IP. Canadian or U.S. citizenship, with eligibility to hold (or already holding) a SECRET-level government security clearance. Fluent, professional English. Nice to Have Cisco hands-on experience — routers, Nexus/Catalyst, IOS/XE-OS. Engineering or Computer Science degree, or a relevant technical diploma. Government of Canada IT experience, defence sector a plus. Type 1 cryptographic device experience. Multi-hub-site remote access system design. IPSEC and VPN technologies (DMVPN, ADVPN, GETVPN, FLEXVPN) alongside firewall integration. RADIUS and PKI / device certificate experience. Active Juniper (JNCIS / JNCIP / JNCIE) or Cisco (CCNA / CCNP / CCIE) certification. Good to Know On-site in Ottawa (NCR); occasional short-notice domestic travel may be required. Delivered under a task-based professional services engagement — workload will ebb and flow with client demand. Only candidates who are Canadian or U.S. citizens and can obtain/maintain a SECRET clearance will be considered. Interested? If gateway and remote-access architecture is your specialty, I'd like to hear from you — send your resume to [insert contact email] or reach out here directly. Mention your clearance status and citizenship so we can fast-track your application.