.svg){kind=small}
Bridging Networking, Power and Cooling in Data Centre Solution Architecture
A company that designs, manufactures and distributes networking, connectivity, cable and security products retained Miramar to run an executive search for a Solution Architect, Data Centers within its Global Products & Solutions organisation.
THE CHALLENGE
Our client was strengthening its Enterprise Solutions capability in data centres and needed an architect who could do more than manage existing infrastructure, someone responsible for assessing, designing, developing, building and validating network infrastructure solutions, with specific experience in data centre power and cooling, the "gray space" that sits alongside the network itself.
The role required someone who could simultaneously:
- Bring deep technical credibility across data centre networking technologies including Ethernet/IP, InfiniBand, SD-WAN, Wi-Fi, 5GNR, PON and WDM, with a track record of designing and validating future-ready backbone infrastructure
- Bridge network architecture with gray-space power and cooling considerations, a combination that ruled out both traditional networking-only and facilities-only profiles
- Operate confidently with customers and cross-functional teams, translating complex technical requirements into practical designs and business-aligned recommendations
Process discipline was non-negotiable too. The business expected:
- Rigorous documentation of design prerequisites, topology drawings, configuration procedures and performance metrics
- Customer insight fed back systematically into Sales, Product Management and Engineering/R&D
Two further constraints narrowed the field. The role was remote, with up to 30% domestic and international travel, and the specialist talent pool itself was fragmented, spread across hyperscalers, colocation providers, systems integrators, networking OEMs and gray-space infrastructure businesses. The strongest candidates rarely sat inside a single obvious competitor set; they tended to sit at the intersection of network architecture, customer solutions and physical infrastructure.
THE SOLUTION
Miramar built a market map across the full data centre ecosystem, assessing candidates against criteria agreed with our client before any outreach began. The search covered three pools:
- End customers and data centre operators, including hyperscale cloud and colocation environments such as AWS, Meta, Microsoft, Google, Equinix, Digital Realty, CoreSite and CyrusOne
- Systems integrators, VARs and networking OEMs, including Supermicro, World Wide Technology, Presidio, CDW, Cisco, Arista, NVIDIA/Mellanox and Juniper, where customer-facing solution architecture talent tends to concentrate
- Gray-space and infrastructure providers such as Schneider and ABB, who bring a broader view of the power, cooling and physical infrastructure surrounding the networ
Five criteria anchored assessment: technology depth, customer focus, process orientation, delivery of future-ready backbone designs, and genuine data centre industry experience. Miramar also tested commercial confidence and cross-functional collaboration, so the final slate combined engineering credibility with the ability to influence customers directly.
THE RESULT
Miramar built a detailed map of the relevant talent across hyperscalers, colocation providers, systems integrators, networking OEMs and gray-space infrastructure businesses, and from that market presented a slate of five executives, each combining the technical depth to design complex data centre infrastructure with the commercial credibility to engage customers and stakeholders across the ecosystem.
The business selected the leader whose experience most closely matched its strategy: someone with a demonstrated track record in the competitive data centre landscape and the ability to connect technical architecture with customer priorities. The leader was onboarded successfully and delivered a strong first year.
- 56 candidates mapped across the Americas and the core data centre ecosystem
- 5 executives presented, each combining technical depth with commercial credibility
- 1 leader selected and successfully onboarded
- Strong performance delivered through the first year in role
The impact
The role sits at the intersection of networking and the wider physical data centre environment. Our client is using its solutions organisation to build validated infrastructure designs that combine its own technologies with customer requirements, third-party products and emerging industry standards, an increasingly integrated proposition for data centre customers, and one that depends on talent spanning network architecture, gray-space infrastructure and commercial influence at once.
More Case Studies
Facing a similar leadership challenge?
We work with organisations navigating leadership transitions, transformation and growth.
