Sr Network Engineer

The Network Engineer, Senior designs, implements, and optimizes complex enterprise network infrastructures that support mission-critical systems in highly regulated government environments. This role goes beyond traditional network engineering and requires a well-rounded infrastructure expert who can troubleshoot and resolve complex connectivity issues across network, server, and application layers. Hands-on problem solver who thrives in high-availability environments and deployment of LAN, WAN, and wireless solutions to ensure resilient, scalable, and secure connectivity across data centers, cloud environments, and remote sites. Oversees advanced troubleshooting and performance tuning for multi-vendor network hardware and software, resolving issues escalated beyond lower tiers of support. The engineer partners with security, systems, and application teams to align network design with zero-trust principles, monitoring strategies, and compliance requirements. This position also provides technical leadership on network roadmaps, technology selection, and major upgrade or migration initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Monitor, troubleshoot, and resolve complex network and infrastructure incidents in a 24/7 NOC environment.
• Support design initiatives of end-to-end network infrastructure, including routing, switching, wireless, VPN, and inter-site connectivity across campus, data center, and cloud environments.
• Configure and maintain enterprise-class routers, switches, firewalls, and load balancers from major vendors, using best practices for segmentation, redundancy, and quality of service.
• Collaborate with server, database, and application teams to resolve cross-functional incidents.
• Analyze packet captures, flow data, and logs to determine failure points.
• Support and troubleshoot Windows and Linux server environments, including system-level connectivity and performance issues.
• Monitor network performance and integrity using flow analysis, SNMP, and packet capture tools, tuning capacity and paths to meet stringent availability and latency targets.
• Implement and oversee network security controls such as access control lists, network access control, VPNs, and integration with identity and logging platforms within a highly regulated environment.
• Lead resolution of complex, escalated incidents by performing deep protocol-level analysis, coordinating cross-team troubleshooting, and documenting permanent corrective actions.
• Design and automate network configuration and change workflows using infrastructure-as-code, templates, and scripting to improve consistency and reduce operational risk.
• Mentor junior and mid-level network engineers, reviewing designs and changes, and establishing standards for documentation, monitoring, and change control.
• Align network architectures with modern patterns such as SD-WAN, network virtualization, and software-defined networking, and plan migrations from legacy designs.
• Drive continuous improvement in monitoring, alerting, and operational processes.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in network engineering or a closely related role supporting enterprise networks.
• Strong knowledge of networking principles, including TCP/IP, routing, switching, wireless, network segmentation, and high-availability design.
• Hands-on experience configuring and troubleshooting enterprise network platforms from major vendors such as Cisco, Juniper, Palo Alto, Fortinet, or equivalent.
• Proficiency with network monitoring, diagnostics, and troubleshooting tools such as packet analyzers, SNMP platforms, flow analysis, and log correlation tools.
• Experience supporting secure network operations in government, defense, or other highly regulated environments.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot end-to-end connectivity issues across multiple layers (network, OS, application).
• Solid understanding of Linux and Windows server administration.
• Experience diagnosing DNS, DHCP, and authentication-related issues.
• Familiarity with virtualization platforms (VMware, Hyper-V) and cloud networking (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Strong critical thinking and rapid problem isolation skills under pressure.
• Professional network certifications such as CompTIA Sec+ and CCNA, CCNP or equivalent advanced vendor credentials.
• Candidates must have a current secret security clearance U.S. citizenship required.
• Strong analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex priorities effectively.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional network certifications such as Microsoft, ITIL, JNCIS, JNCIP, RHCE or equivalent advanced vendor credentials.
• Experience designing and supporting large multi-site networks across telework, campus, data center, and cloud-connected environments.
• Familiarity with zero-trust architecture, software-defined networking, SD-WAN, DMVPN, and network automation frameworks.
• Background supporting voice, video, and high-throughput mission systems with strict uptime and latency requirements.
• Experience creating technical standards, network documentation, and implementation runbooks for enterprise operations teams.

Job Specific Skills

• Enterprise routing and switching
• LAN/WAN architecture
• Wireless network engineering
• VPN and remote access design
• Firewall and network segmentation
• Network performance tuning
• Packet and protocol analysis
• Network automation and scripting
• SD-WAN and network virtualization
• Incident escalation and root cause analysis

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