R&D Architect

Job Description

The R&D Architect will lead the architecture of Nokia's next-generation automation products, leveraging cutting-edge cloud-native technologies on Kubernetes across public cloud and on-premises environments. This role is centered on new product development, translating high-level business requirements into backlog items and detailed specs for agile teams, while supporting product management, pre-sales, and technical teams. As an expert in system integration, you’ll define requirements that consider interactions across components, products, and systems to meet strategic goals. Key responsibilities include guiding design activities, driving prototyping efforts, and providing technical consultancy to teams. You’ll also ensure optimal performance and quality within Nokia’s innovative automation domain.

How You Will Contribute And What You Will Learn

We are looking for a highly skilled R&D Architect to provide direction, contribute to large product developments, and manage stakeholders effectively to deliver designs that meet industry standards. As part of the team, you will:

• Provide direction and set expectations for creating new designs and prototypes
• Participate and contribute in complex product development projects
• Manage stakeholders and deliver designs that meet industry standards
• Research, design, plan, develop, and evaluate new advanced network technologies
• Assess customer networked application needs, conduct network modeling and simulation testing, and engineer high-speed technology network transports
• Define and implement integrated hardware/software system requirements for customers
• Determine system specifications, input/output processes, and hardware/software compatibility
• Coordinate design of subsystems and integration of total systems
• Identify, analyze, and resolve program support deficiencies
• Develop and recommend corrective actions
• Influence strategic decisions within your professional area
• Independently develop concepts to set the professional direction of your team
• Solve highly complex problems based on sophisticated analytical thought
• Serve as a senior subject matter expert at a global/regional level
• Lead functional teams or projects with significant resource requirements, risk, and complexity
  
  

Join us as an R&D Architect at Nokia and be a key player in shaping the future of network technologies with your expertise, innovation, and leadership skills.

Key Skills And Experience

You have:

• Kubernetes: You deeply understand container technology and Kubernetes, including building API extensions to manage complex applications.
• Distributed Systems: You have 15+ years of experience architecting and scaling resilient, high-performance distributed systems, ideally in observability or data-driven products.
• Requirements Engineering: You can define and refine both functional and non-functional requirements to ensure clear product goals.
• Backend Development: You are skilled in Golang for building scalable, efficient backends for large-scale data processing.
• Frontend Expertise: You are proficient in frontend development using React and modern web application frameworks, with experience in SSR, web sockets, Webpack module federation, and GraphQL.
• Cloud-Native & DevOps: You have a strong foundation in cloud-native and DevOps practices, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, system reliability, root cause analysis, and performance optimization.
• Cloud Engineering: You have strong cloud engineering skills with experience deploying in both on-prem and public cloud environments.
• Systems Thinking & Detail Orientation: You can see the big picture and pay attention to the details, ensuring complex systems are built with precision and reliability.
• Observability Tools: You are familiar with modern open-source observability tools like OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Prometheus, OpenSearch, and Homer.
• Communication & Leadership: You are an excellent communicator, able to deliver presentations and detailed specifications. You are fluent in English and have a collaborative approach
  
  

Nice-to-Have:

• Networking & API Design: You have expertise in transferring large amounts of data over WAN, building gRPC-based APIs, and optimizing for latency, performance, and security.
• Database Design: You can design and optimize high-performance database schemas and indices for distributed databases.
• AI Feature Development: You have experience building and deploying AI features in production, integrating AI into scalable applications.
• Security Protocols: You are proficient in TLS, certificate chains, expiration, OAuth2, and OpenID Connect for secure data access
• Telecom Knowledge: You understand telecom standards, products, network management, and the FCAPS framework, with specific experience in Fault and Performance management.
  
  

Please note: We understand that not everyone will have experience in all of these areas. If you have a strong foundation in most of the required skills and a passion for learning, we encourage you to apply.

About Us

Come create the technology that helps the world act together

Nokia is committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. Your career here will have a positive impact on people’s lives and will help us build the capabilities needed for a more productive, sustainable, and inclusive world.

We challenge ourselves to create an inclusive way of working where we are open to new ideas, empowered to take risks and fearless to bring our authentic selves to work

What we offer

Nokia offers continuous learning opportunities, well-being programs to support you mentally and physically, opportunities to join and get supported by employee resource groups, mentoring programs and highly diverse teams with an inclusive culture where people thrive and are empowered.

Nokia is committed to inclusion and is an equal opportunity employer

Nokia has received the following recognitions for its commitment to inclusion & equality:

• One of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere
• Gender-Equality Index by Bloomberg
• Workplace Pride Global Benchmark
  
  

At Nokia, we act inclusively and respect the uniqueness of people. Nokia’s employment decisions are made regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. We are committed to a culture of inclusion built upon our core value of respect.

Join us and be part of a company where you will feel included and empowered to succeed.

Additional Information

US/Canada Nokia Offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes but is not limited to:

• Corporate Retirement Savings Plan
• Health and dental benefits
• Short-term disability, and long-term disability
• Life insurance, and AD&D – Company paid 2x base pay
• Optional or Supplemental life and AD&D insurance (Employee/Spouse/Child)
• Paid time off for holidays and Vacation
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Tuition Assistance Plan
• Adoption assistance
• Employee Assistance Program/Work Life Resource Program
  
  

The above benefits exclude students. Disclaimer for US/Canada

Nokia Maintains broad annual base salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience and market conditions, and with consideration to internal peer equity.(Check the salary ranges in the job info section for this role)

All North America job posts will post for a minimum of 7 calendar days and up to 180 days or until candidate/s identified.

About The Team

As Nokia's growth engine, we create value for communication service providers and enterprise customers by leading the transition to cloud-native software and as-a-service delivery models. Our inclusive team of dreamers, doers and disruptors push the limits from impossible to possible.