Senior Network Engineer--Routing & Switching

Location: Fort Meade, MD

Schedule: (FT/PT): Full Time

Travel Required:

Shift:

Potential for Telework: Yes, Hybrid

Required: Secret Security Clearance and U.S. Citizenship

Job Description

Our customer, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), requires personnel to support the Defense Enclave Services (DES) contract. The DES team is responsible for developing and deploying operational capabilities into an integrated and modernized enterprise environment. Become a member of the team supporting an extensive modernization program critical to DISA and Fourth Estate Agencies. Fourth Estate entities include organizations within the DoD that are not in the military departments, IC agencies, or combatant commands. The DES contract unifies the DOD Fourth Estate Defense Agencies and Field Activities (DAFA) common-use information technology systems, personnel, functions, and program elements under the direction of DISA’s Fourth Estate Network Optimization program office.

Our client is seeking a Senior Network Engineer specializing in routing and switching to engineer, implement, and sustain enterprise network infrastructure across a large, distributed environment. The role carries hands-on responsibility for the routed and switched core — designing changes, implementing them cleanly, and resolving the complex problems that reach the senior engineering tier.

This position supports overall network engineering across a broad range of efforts, including planning, designing, and evaluating components of the network. Duties include developing specifications for routing and switching designs, evaluating and recommending technologies to enhance current capabilities, performing needs assessments, and performing installation, modification, testing, and servicing of network equipment.

The successful candidate operates independently on complex engineering work, translates requirements into implementable designs, and serves as an escalation point for routing, switching, and transport issues that others cannot resolve.

Scope and Impact

• Impact: Contributes to the completion of significant project milestones and recommends technical solutions and improvements that affect program results. Work is performed under general direction, with latitude for independent judgment on technical approach.
• Complexity: Resolves complex technical problems requiring in-depth analysis, evaluation of multiple factors, and application of established engineering principles and best practices.
• Communication: Communicates technical information, design recommendations, risks, and status to engineering leadership, peer teams, and stakeholders. Explains complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Knowledge: Strong working knowledge of routing and switching principles, theories, and concepts, with demonstrated depth across enterprise network technologies.

Primary Responsibilities

• Establishes Network information requirements using analysis of the Network Engineer(s) in the development of enterprise-wide or large-scale networking infrastructure (CAN, MAN, WAN).
• Designs architecture to include the software, hardware and communications to support the total requirements as well as provide for present and future cross-functional requirements and interfaces.
• Ensures these Network systems are compatible and in compliance with the standards for open systems architectures, the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) and International Standards Organization (ISO) reference models and profiles of standards - such as Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Open Systems Environment (OSE) reference model - as they apply to the implementation and specification of Information Management (IM) solution of the network layers, across the application program interface (API) and the external environment/software application.
• Ensures that the network/transport layers of the common operating environment are compliant.
• Evaluates analytically and systematically problems of work flows and network usage, organization and planning and develops appropriate corrective action. Provides daily supervision and direction to staff.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 8+ years of prior relevant experience, or Master's degree with 6+ years of experience. Specific experience, education, and training may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Significant hands-on experience engineering, implementing, and troubleshooting enterprise routing and switching infrastructure at scale.
• Strong working knowledge of TCP/IP, subnetting, BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, VLANs, spanning tree, link aggregation, VRFs, multicast, QoS, NAT, and high-availability design.
• Experience with network hardware installation, configuration, software upgrades, and lifecycle replacement.
• Experience developing implementation plans, test procedures, and rollback plans, and executing changes in production environments during maintenance windows.
• Demonstrated troubleshooting ability, including packet capture and protocol analysis, across multi-vendor environments.
• Hands-on experience with one or more of the following: Cisco, Aruba, Palo Alto, Dell, Infoblox, and Brocade.
• Experience documenting network designs and procedures using tools such as Visio, PowerPoint, or similar.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Current IAT Level II or higher certification, such as Security+ CE.
• Active DoD Secret clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Enterprise or equivalent certification.
• Experience with enterprise network modernization, migration, or large-scale transformation and integration efforts.
• Experience with software-defined networking, SD-WAN, or SD-Access (Cisco Catalyst Center / DNA Center) environments.
• Experience with network segmentation, access control, and identity-based networking.
• Experience integrating enterprise networking with cloud infrastructure, including hybrid connectivity and secure cloud routing.
• Experience with network automation and scripting using Python, Ansible, or infrastructure-as-code approaches. Experience applying DISA STIGs, vulnerability remediation, and configuration hardening to network devices.
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, or similar project and knowledge management tools.

Additional Qualifications

• Certification in one or more of the following: IAT Level II - CASP+ CE, IAT Level II - CCNA-Security, IAT Level II - CCNP Security, IAT Level II - CCSP, IAT Level II - CISA, IAT Level II - CISSP (or Associate), IAT Level II - CND, IAT Level II - CySA+, IAT Level II - GCED, IAT Level II - GCIH, IAT Level II - GICSP, IAT Level II - GSEC, IAT Level II - Security+ CE, IAT Level II - SSCP

PW Communications is a woman-owned, military-friendly firm that specializes in DoD contract support and proposal/document preparation for Federal contractors. For over 20 years, we have served as the premiere source in providing solutions to complex problems that face our clients daily. PW Communications’ staff is renowned as leaders in consultancy, and that is exactly why our clients trust us as THE source in handling mission essential needs.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law.