The posting
MSP Notes
Shortlist Date: 2026-10-30, 10:30 a.m.
Must Haves:
- Excellent Oral and written communication skills – present to stakeholders and technical teams
- WAN Architecture & Transformation: The candidate has End-to-End Architecture Delivery (Strategy Migration)
- Cloud Connectivity (Hybrid/Multi-Cloud): The candidate has designed Direct Connect / ExpressRoute, Transit architectures, multi-cloud integration (AWS + Azure)
- Secure Architecture (SASE / Zero Trust): Demonstrated ability to apply standard security controls (firewalls, segmentation)
- Automation and AIOps: Led the implementation of Automation and AIOps solutions that delivered measurable operational efficiencies
- End-to-End Architecture Delivery (Strategy Migration): Led full lifecycle: current state future state migration transition architecture
Location: 3 days onsite (subject to HM's discretion) - meetings could be in GTHA - Hamilton, Markham, Toronto offices
Public Sector Experience: nice to have but not required
# of submissions/supplier: 1
RQ-2026-010103 - Sr. Network Designer -Network Modernization
Description
The Agency is undertaking various network and network security modernization initiatives to support secure, reliable, and scalable connectivity across its enterprise and province wide network services.
The Senior Network Designer will provide architecture and design expertise to strengthen network services, support integration across on-premises and cloud environments, and align solutions with business and security requirements.
The resource will support assigned projects and additional network and network security related initiatives identified during the engagement.
Responsibilities:
- Responsible for creating architectures, roadmaps, and plans for the interconnection of multiple Agency products and services in the context of Provincial system integrations and overall Provincial strategic objects.
- Provide technical expertise as required on any on-going network and network security initiatives
- Guides and influences portfolios and partners to align solutions to the Agency's digital vision considering provincial, national, and international mandates.
- Using an automation first approach, develops visionary solutions, as well as the tactical approaches to deliver them, for complex provincial and regional initiatives that meet customer needs and timelines, while adhering to overall enterprise architecture vision and organizational business plans.
- Reduces current and future costs across local, provincial and national initiatives by identifying misalignments, duplication of efforts, and other opportunities for improvement in the architecture and escalates, proposes and drives to delivery, practical, efficient and reusable solutions.
- Solves complex problems that span multiple assets and promotes architecture patterns and principles to ensure reusability, and maintainability.
- Develop and design the VNA Cloud connectivity in support of centralizing the digital imaging repositories for OCInet
Desired Skills:
- SASE / Zero Trust Architecture Expertise
- Ability to integrate WAN with modern security controls
- Familiarity with monitoring/observability platforms for WAN performance
- Understanding the complexities and feature of ISE (Cisco Identity Services Engine)
- Understanding of NDR (Network Detection and Response)
Required Skills:
- 10+ years designing and operating large-scale enterprise and provider WAN environments
- Proven experience with MPLS-based architectures, including traffic engineering and QoS
- Strong understanding of routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS)
- Demonstrated experience leading MPLS-to-SD-WAN transformation initiatives
- Telecom experience is an asset
- Experience delivering measurable business outcomes through network automation and AI-driven operations, including the automation of provisioning, configuration management, compliance validation, incident response, and operational reporting.
- Experience designing greenfield WAN connectivity for cloud environments, with AWS (VPC, Transit Gateway, DirectConnect)
- Hybrid architecture design (on-prem + multi-cloud)
- Ability to produce high-quality architecture diagrams as well other design documents
- Strong problem solving and analytical skills to identify gaps and opportunities within domains, sectors and/or solutions, and drive improvement and efficiency; create strategies to mitigate various types of business, privacy, security, and financial risks; define and drive alternative solutions to meet business and technical problems across teams, portfolios and products; influence provincial project planning by identifying architecturally significant cross-project and system dependencies.
- Strong communications skills, both oral and written, with an ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders to understand business needs: facilitate, negotiate, and communicate in support of internal and external partner engagement at local and provincial levels, and able to deliver presentation material, design documents and/or training material for both technical and non-technical audiences and drive to consensus between internal stakeholders with conflicting goals and priorities; communicate to internal and external executives, business domain stakeholders and technical staff.
- Ability to stay current on business strategy and assess new trends with respect to the Agency's business needs, and identify opportunities, impacts and transformations required to realize their value and assess their implications on the future state of specific products or portfolios.
- Ability to stay abreast of provincial, national, and international business, technology, architecture and solution design trends.
- Ability to understand and translate strategic, tactical and operational business requirements into effective architectures and designs.
- Ability to interpret and apply IT privacy and security standards, principles, and regulations applicable to the health care sector (such as FIPPA, PHIPA) in development of architecture solutions.
- Experience designing enterprise firewall architectures, with a preference for Checkpoint technologies, including Maestro, policy architecture, segmentation, high availability and VPN design.
- Experience designing secure hybrid network architectures connecting on-premises datacentres with AWS and Azure cloud environments, including Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, Transit Gateway, routing and enterprise connectivity patterns.
Required Experience:
- WAN Architecture & Transformation: The candidate has End-to-End Architecture Delivery (Strategy Migration)
- Cloud Connectivity (Hybrid/Multi-Cloud): The candidate has designed Direct Connect / ExpressRoute, Transit architectures, multi-cloud integration (AWS + Azure)
- Secure Architecture (SASE / Zero Trust): Demonstrated ability to apply standard security controls (firewalls, segmentation)
- Automation and AIOps: Led the implementation of Automation and AIOps solutions that delivered measurable operational efficiencies
- End-to-End Architecture Delivery (Strategy Migration): Led full lifecycle: current state future state migration transition architecture
Deliverables
Deliverables Include:
- Providing insights and recommendations based on network modernization and connectivity strategies across other industries (i.e. banking, retail, telecommunications, air lines etc.)
- Contributes to the architectural design for ONE Network (Next Gen) in preparation for network modernization and any procurements
- Architectural design for the VNA Cloud connectivity and migration strategy
- Design of ISE deployment including sample configurations deployment model for the different type of devices/users that will potentially connect
- Network automation initiatives that achieve measurable improvements in provisioning, configuration management, compliance validation, and operational support efficiency
Additional Terms
The term of this Engagement Assignment is for 250 Business Days, with an option to extend for up to an additional 250 days at the Agency's discretion. The Engagement Assignment may be extended for unused Business Days at the Agency's discretion.
The resource will comply with the Agency's policies and procedures.
The resource will be issued an Agency laptop and is expected to provide at least one additional monitor, an external keyboard and a mouse at their own expense. In addition, when the resource is working from their home location they must have a private office space and are not permitted to work in an open communal space. Internet connection must be hard-wired and suitable bandwidth to support the IT requirements of this role. If these conditions cannot be met within their home office space, the resource will transition to full time in office, and the hybrid option will no longer be available.
The Agency systems cannot be accessed from outside the province of Ontario, and Agency assets including laptops and related equipment cannot be removed from the province of Ontario, without prior written approval from the Agency.
Assignment Type: This position is currently listed as "Hybrid". The resource under this request will be required to work onsite as per Hiring Manager sole discretion.
Knowledge Transfer Details:
- The resource will ensure full knowledge transfer is provided to the Agency team before end of engagement. Some of this might occur at the end of the engagement but will also be shared as information is obtained/consolidated. Key deliverables will be shared with team.
- The resource must provide all related documentation as part of knowledge transfer protocol. Documents will be reviewed by the appropriate leads and signed off by manager/director.
- The resource will work collaboratively with the Agency team throughout the assignment and ensure key deliverables, milestones, and documentation are shared.
- A walkthrough of any demos, development, etc. will be required before the end of the engagement.
