Senior Network Engineer

The Defense sector at Leidos is seeking an experienced Senior Network Engineer to support a fast-paced Department of Defense (DoD) program supporting the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC).

The Senior Network Engineer will serve as a senior technical contributor responsible for translating mission and technical requirements into secure, resilient, and supportable network solutions.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop detailed network architectures and engineering designs aligned with DoD, Air Force, cybersecurity, availability, and mission requirements.
• Translate operational and technical requirements into network designs, implementation plans, equipment specifications, Bills of Materials (BOMs), and technical documentation.
• Design, configure, deploy, and troubleshoot enterprise network infrastructure, including routers, Layer 2/Layer 3 switches, firewalls, VPN gateways, and associated network services.
• Engineer LAN and WAN solutions incorporating technologies such as Ethernet, VLANs, trunking, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), link aggregation, QoS, access control lists (ACLs), and redundant/high-availability architectures.
• Configure and troubleshoot routing technologies and protocols such as BGP, OSPF, and static routing in enterprise and multi-site environments.
• Design and support secure WAN connectivity using technologies such as IPsec, site-to-site VPNs, MPLS, and other DoD-approved transport solutions.
• Support implementation and troubleshooting of network security technologies, including firewalls, network segmentation, access controls, secure management interfaces, and encrypted communications.
• Perform packet-level and protocol analysis to identify network performance, connectivity, routing, security, and interoperability issues.
• Utilize network monitoring and troubleshooting technologies such as SNMPv3, Syslog, ICMP, NetFlow, packet capture, and network management platforms to identify and resolve operational issues.
• Develop test plans and conduct verification and validation of network solutions to confirm functionality, performance, resiliency, interoperability, and cybersecurity compliance.
• Conduct pre-deployment staging, configuration validation, and implementation readiness activities prior to installation at customer locations.
• Troubleshoot complex network issues during deployment, testing, and operational sustainment and perform root-cause analysis when required.
• Develop and maintain network documentation, including logical and physical network diagrams, IP address plans, configuration baselines, interface documentation, rack elevations, cable diagrams, and as-built documentation.
• Maintain configuration control and document network changes in accordance with established change and configuration management processes.
• Support DoD cybersecurity requirements, including applicable Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), security controls, vulnerability remediation, and Risk Management Framework (RMF) activities.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity engineers to ensure network infrastructure meets applicable DoD security and Zero Trust requirements.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to junior engineers and field personnel during network installation, integration, troubleshooting, and operational turnover.
• Support technical reviews, engineering meetings, site surveys, deployment planning, and customer technical discussions.
• Provide technical input to procurement activities and evaluate network hardware/software against technical, security, interoperability, lifecycle, and mission requirements.
• Maintain awareness of emerging network, cybersecurity, cloud, automation, and DoD enterprise networking technologies and recommend improvements where appropriate.

Basic Qualifications:

• US Citizen with an active Top Secret clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a SCI prior to your start date.
• Bachelor's degree with 8+ years of experience or a Master's degree with 6+ years of experience.
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, configuring, and troubleshooting enterprise network infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of the OSI and TCP/IP models and network protocols associated with Layers 1–4.
• Hands-on experience configuring enterprise routers and switches.
• Experience implementing and troubleshooting LAN technologies, including VLANs, 802.1Q trunking, STP/RSTP, link aggregation, and Layer 3 switching.
• Experience with IP addressing, subnetting, route selection, access control lists, and network segmentation.
• Working knowledge of dynamic routing protocols such as BGP and OSPF.
• Experience designing, deploying, or supporting WAN connectivity across geographically separated locations.
• Experience implementing or supporting IPsec/site-to-site VPN technologies.
• Experience using network monitoring and troubleshooting technologies such as ICMP, SNMPv3, Syslog, packet captures, and network management platforms.
• Experience troubleshooting complex network connectivity, routing, performance, and configuration issues.
• Ability to develop and maintain detailed technical documentation and network diagrams.
• Understanding of network security principles, secure management practices, segmentation, encryption, and defense-in-depth.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, written communication, and technical documentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• US Citizen with an active TS/SCI security clearance.
• Experience supporting Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force, Intelligence Community, or other highly regulated government environments.
• Experience with Cisco and/or Juniper enterprise routing and switching platforms.
• Experience with next-generation firewall technologies such as Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, or equivalent enterprise platforms.
• Experience designing or supporting high-availability network architectures, redundant WAN connectivity, and resilient network services.
• Experience with DoD STIGs, RMF, NIST security controls, vulnerability management, and configuration compliance.
• Understanding of DoD Zero Trust principles, including network segmentation, identity-aware access, least privilege, continuous monitoring, and secure access architectures.
• Experience with secure communications and operation or integration of DoD cryptographic devices, such as TACLANE or equivalent Type 1 encryption technologies.
• Experience with Cisco Secure Client/AnyConnect, Azure VPN Gateway, MPLS, IPsec, GRE, or similar enterprise WAN/VPN technologies.
• Working knowledge of cloud networking, particularly Microsoft Azure, including VNets, subnets, Network Security Groups (NSGs), routing, VPN gateways, and hybrid connectivity.
• Familiarity with network automation and Infrastructure as Code technologies such as Python, Ansible, Terraform, REST APIs, or similar tools.
• Experience with network monitoring and performance-management platforms such as SolarWinds, Cisco network management platforms, Splunk, or equivalent technologies.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical activities or mentoring junior network engineers.
• Relevant industry certifications such as CCNP Enterprise, CCNP Security, CCIE, JNCIP/JNCIE, PCNSE, AZ-700, Security+, CISSP, or equivalent certifications.