Senior UC Architect

Job Description

Who We Are

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) is the leading entertainment and sports agency, with global expertise in filmed and live entertainment, digital media, publishing, sponsorship sales and endorsements, licensing, media finance, consumer investing, fashion, trademark licensing, and philanthropy.  Distinguished by its culture of collaboration and exceptional client service, CAA’s diverse workforce identifies, innovates, and amplifies opportunities for the people and organizations that shape culture and inspire the world.  The trailblazer of the agency business, CAA was the first to build a sports business, create an investment bank, launch a venture fund, found technology start-up companies, establish a philanthropic arm, build a business in China, and form a brand marketing services division, among other innovations.

The Role
The Senior Unified Communications Architect is CAA’s technical authority for enterprise communications, responsible for defining the long-term strategy, architecture, and modernization roadmap for voice, collaboration, AI-enabled communications, and workplace communication technologies. This role owns the long-term architecture, strategy, and reliability of enterprise communications across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. While ensuring continuity of existing services, the Architect will lead modernization through cloud adoption, automation, AI-enabled capabilities, observability, and global standardization.

Working closely with Network, Infrastructure, Audio Visual, Security, Service Desk, business stakeholders, and managed service partners, this position will develop multi-year roadmaps, evaluate emerging technologies, and translate business requirements into secure, resilient, and scalable solutions. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable troubleshooting complex call flows, assessing cloud migration options, presenting recommendations to executive leadership, and guiding implementation teams through controlled transformation.

Responsibilities

• Own and define the long-term architecture and technical strategy for CAA’s global voice and communications services across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments.

• Develop and maintain a multi-year modernization roadmap that balances service continuity, user experience, security, cost, operational complexity, and business value.

• Evaluate cloud communications platforms and services, including Microsoft Teams Phone, Webex Calling, Zoom Phone, contact center and AI-enabled communications capabilities, and recommend fit-for-purpose solutions without unnecessary vendor bias.

• Lead architecture and migration planning for coexistence, consolidation, or transition between legacy Cisco platforms and modern cloud-based services.

• Partner with managed service providers to support the existing Cisco UC environment while directing internal engineering focus toward modernization, innovation, and strategic improvement.

• Define an enterprise observability strategy for proactive visibility into service availability, call quality, endpoint health, capacity, adoption, and user experience.

• Identify and lead practical automation opportunities across provisioning, DID and extension deployment, lifecycle management, certificate management, reporting, monitoring, and operational workflows.

• Assess and introduce responsible AI capabilities such as intelligent call routing, virtual reception, transcription, summarization, directory assistance, agent support, self-service, and predictive service analytics.

• Serve as the senior technical escalation and architecture authority for complex issues involving SIP signaling, SBCs, call routing, media flow, quality of service, identity, security, and platform integrations.

• Partner closely with Network, Infrastructure, Audio Visual, Security, Service Desk, Real Estate, Facilities, and business stakeholders to translate communication workflows into scalable technical solutions.

• Lead UC architecture for acquisitions, new office builds, renovations, lifecycle refreshes, and global platform deployments while maintaining consistent standards and governance.

• Develop and own reference architectures, technical standards, decision records, operational runbooks, Features, and user stories within an Agile delivery model.

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers, service desk teams, and delivery partners, reducing tribal knowledge and strengthening operational resilience.

• Manage strategic vendor relationships, evaluate product roadmaps and licensing models, and influence technology partners to support CAA’s long-term communications strategy.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience designing, engineering, or owning enterprise Unified Communications, voice, or collaboration services in a large or global environment.

• Demonstrated experience defining enterprise communications architecture, technical strategy, standards, and multi-year roadmaps.

• Proven experience designing or leading hybrid and cloud communications initiatives, including migration, coexistence, or platform consolidation.

• Strong experience with at least one modern enterprise communications platform such as Microsoft Teams Phone, Webex Calling, Zoom Phone, or a comparable UCaaS solution.

• Working knowledge of enterprise Cisco Unified Communications technologies sufficient to provide architectural oversight, guide service partners, and make informed modernization decisions.

• Deep understanding of SIP, SBCs, PSTN connectivity, call routing, WebRTC, identity and access management, networking, QoS, security, and real-time media flows.

• Experience developing proactive monitoring, observability, capacity, availability, and user-experience measurement strategies for mission-critical communications services.

• Experience using APIs, automation, scripting, or workflow tools to reduce manual administration and improve service consistency.

• Ability to build business cases, compare solution options, assess total cost of ownership, and communicate recommendations to technical and executive stakeholders.

• Strong service ownership mindset with demonstrated accountability for reliability, incident response, problem management, change management, and continual improvement.

• Ability to operate independently, influence across teams, and lead technical decisions in partnership with internal teams and managed service providers.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to simplify complex architectural concepts for non-technical audiences.

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Skills

• Experience leading a large-scale migration from on-premises communications infrastructure to cloud or hybrid services.

• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Teams Phone, Direct Routing, Operator Connect, Teams Rooms, PowerShell, and Microsoft Graph APIs.

• Experience with Cisco CUCM, Unity Connection, CUBE, CER/E911, Expressway, UCCX, Webex, or related enterprise Cisco collaboration technologies.

• Experience evaluating or implementing AI-enabled voice, contact center, virtual receptionist, transcription, meeting intelligence, or operational analytics capabilities.

• Familiarity with cloud contact center or communications platforms such as Amazon Connect, Genesys Cloud, Five9, Twilio, or Zoom Contact Center.

• Experience with UC monitoring and analytics platforms, synthetic testing, service health dashboards, and executive-level reporting.

• Experience with REST APIs, PowerShell, Python, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, or workflow automation platforms.

• Experience managing strategic technology vendors, managed service providers, contracts, licensing, and service-level commitments.

• Relevant architecture, cloud, Microsoft, Cisco, ITIL, or Agile certifications.

• Experience developing Features and user stories and managing technical delivery through Jira or a similar platform.

Location

This is a hybrid role based out of our Nashville office.
 

Compensation

The annual base salary for this position is in the range of $159,000 to $190,000. This position also is eligible for benefits and discretionary bonus. Ultimately, the salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, time in role, business sector, and geographic location, among other criteria. Please talk with a CAA Recruiter to learn more.

Creative Artists Agency, LLC (the “Company”) is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate on the basis of race (inclusive of traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles), color, religion, creed, gender or sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), national origin, ancestry, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, family and medical care leave status, military or veteran status, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, political affiliation, an employee’s or their dependent’s reproductive health decision making (e.g., the decision to use or access a particular drug, device or medical service), or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

The absence of a permanent address is not a bar to employment. The Company does not discriminate against individuals based on housing status, including the absence of a fixed address.

The Company also complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and applicable state and local laws with regard to providing reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities.

CAA does not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party recruiters unless they were contractually engaged by CAA to provide candidates for a specified opening. Any such employment agency, person or entity that submits an unsolicited resume does so with the acknowledgement and agreement that CAA will have the right to hire that applicant at its discretion without any fee owed to the submitting employment agency, person or entity.