Principal Network Engineer

Principal Network Engineer

Job Locations US-VA-McLean | US-AZ-Chandler Job ID 2026-4975 Category Engineering Worker Category Regular Full-Time[F]

Company Overview

Iridium is an award-winning and innovative satellite communications company with bragging rights to the only network that offers voice and data connectivity anywhere in the world. For over 20 years, Iridium's unique network and services have supported critical communications needs for individuals, businesses, and the evolving Internet of Things.

At Iridium, we understand the importance of staying connected and the limitations of traditional communications networks. People across the globe, including first responders, humanitarians, global militaries, scientific researchers, and lone workers, as well as ships, aircraft and remote operations all rely on Iridium to stay connected. We take our responsibility for providing these essential communications very seriously and pride ourselves on offering a reliable lifeline when needed. Likewise, Iridium is committed to providing an exciting and innovative workplace, where employees are challenged to think outside the box and collaborate on new, bold ideas and solutions. Our talented teams are passionate about their work and the impact our company makes around the world. Iridium fosters an empowering and inclusive culture that allows employees to genuinely be their best selves. We are looking for others who want to join this truly unique company that celebrates our employees and provides the opportunity to truly make a difference in the world.

What We're Looking For:

If you are passionate about deploying disruptive technology, then you will be excited about the Principal Network Engineer opening with Iridium. As Principal Network Engineer, you'll be working with senior management and use your knowledge and experience to establish strategic plans and objectives as it relates to Iridium's Enterprise, Mission, and Commercial networks. You will be responsible for managing multiple activities and projects, collaborating across functional teams, that include designing, implementing, managing, maintaining, and troubleshooting networking and security hardware, protocols, and features necessary to ensure a reliable and scalable network infrastructure. In this role, you will work independently to determine methods and procedures, to develop, improve or redesign processes, tools, and methodologies within, and outside of, the team, and to contribute to the overall success of our customer and Iridium by designing and implementing solutions that follow industry's best practices.

What You'll Do:

Use your technical expertise and knowledge of Iridium business to collaborate with internal and external teams, to manage operations and engineering tasks and projects, and to provide guidance and recommendations to colleagues, team members, and the management team
• Independently determine methods and procedures that lead to the successful installation, configuration, and management of networking devices such as Cisco ISR/ASR Routers, Catalyst and Nexus switches, Fortinet and Palo Alto firewalls, and AWS Cloud services
• Lead efforts to understand how complex issues are or could be affecting reliable network operations
• Utilizes critical thinking skills and an in-depth evaluation of complex factors to identify, design, and present innovative and creative solutions from concept through completion to support Local Area Networks and Wide Area Networks across multiple sites
• Play a key role in providing technical assistance to Iridium Ops-team with issues related to WAN traffic congestion, latency issues, link outages, and performance, provide authoritative advice to management, and leverages knowledge to enhance process/procedure supporting the Iridium's Systems' operations
• Work independently to perform installation, configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting of networking and security hardware, and operating systems and review work of junior team members
• Conduct research on network products, services, protocols, and standards to remain abreast of developments in the DevOps and network industries, technologies, and best practices and transform research to support direction and decision making

What You'll Need to Succeed:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, or similar field
• 10+ years of experience managing and maintaining mid-to-large scale LAN/WAN networks devices that include Cisco Routers, Switches, Firewall and other vendors networking technologies
• 5+ years' hands-on experience with designing, configuring, deploying and managing complex networks that comprise multiple technologies and vendors
• In-depth knowledge and understanding, and multi-year hands-on experience configuring, managing, and maintaining IP routing protocols such as OSPF, EIGRP, and BGP
• In-depth knowledge and understanding, and multi-year hands-on experience, of IP communication protocols such as OSI Model, MPLS, Spanning-Tree, VDC, VRF, VPC, VSS, NHRP, and MCLAG
• Excellent network troubleshooting and problem-solving skills in a high-pressure environment. Work on issues requiring an in-depth knowledge of the network and relates variable factors and autonomously make decisions or create solutions to address problems
• Have confidence and be able to build relationships with leadership and colleagues outside of our team. Can clearly summarize information and confidently present to them solutions and ideas they may be unfamiliar with and presents with confidence and convictiony complex results and analyses
• Capable of managing and prioritizing own tasks, and the tasks of others, while adhering to deadlines and managing shifting priorities. Leads by example to promote adherence to deadlines, policies, and procedures.
• Possess an analytical mindset, with the ability to understand a situation or problem and think critically to make decisions and come up with out-of-the-box solutions

Things That Would be Great if You Brought to the Table:

• Experience configuring and managing AWS cloud features, solutions, and services such as VPC, Direct Connect Gateway, Transit Gateway, and AWS partners virtual appliances such as routers and firewalls
• Experience with configuration management, application deployment, provisioning, and orchestration tools such as Ansible
• Comfortable working in a Linux environment, RHEL preferred, and virtualized environment
• Well versed in use of MS Office Suite and Visio
• Network Certifications like CCNP or CompTIA Network+

We'll also need you to:

• Be available to support 24x7 on-call on an as-needed basis.
• Be able to travel occasionally, typically 3 to 4 times per year
• Be a US Citizen; Provide dual citizenship information, if applicable
• Be able to lift 25 lbs. and climb a ladder
• Must be able to work a hybrid schedule that includes at least 60% of your time (3 days per week) in-office

Work Environment:

This position primarily works in an office setting and is largely sedentary with the majority of the position working with a computer. The role typically requires the use of basic office equipment such as a phone, video, computer, keyboard, mouse, and printer.

We believe in-person connection drives innovation, strengthens mentorship, and builds culture, while flexibility enables employees to do their best work. Under Iridium's Hybrid Work Policy, employees are expected to work at least three days per week (approximately 60%) in an Iridium office to support collaboration, relationship-building, and professional growth.

Additional Information

This job description outlines the general nature and level of work for this role and is not a comprehensive list of duties, responsibilities, or qualifications. Employees may be assigned additional responsibilities as needed.

Base Pay Range: $140,000 - $190,000 USD

Actual compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors and this range represents an estimate of compensation at the time of posting. Base salary is only one part of our compensation package for this role. You may also be eligible for company stock and annual bonus. Employee benefits also include medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage; 401(k) retirement plan options; paid time off and paid holidays; paid parental leave; and other discounts and perks.

Iridium is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.