Lead Network Engineer

Lead Network EngineerAt MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We're a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies – collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation's health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose — and help shape the future.The MITRE Corporation's All-Domain Integration (ADI) Department (N174) partners with the Department of the Air Force to accelerate the delivery of integrated command-and-control capabilities. Through expertise in digital infrastructure, mission engineering, systems integration, systems engineering, network engineering, architecture, modeling and simulation, operational analysis, and artificial intelligence, MITRE provides independent technical leadership supporting advanced operational capabilities.The ADI Department is seeking a Lead Network Engineer to support the Department of the Air Force Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management program. This role will focus on a combination of hands-on network prototyping and integration along with developing and guiding software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and cloud architecture solutions.The successful candidate will provide technical leadership to government and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) stakeholders, guide architectures and implementation approaches, and help shape strategic plans and technology roadmaps for resilient network capabilities across classification domains.Roles & Responsibilities:Seeking talented Lead Network Engineer to join our team and leverage expertise in SD-WAN, cloud networks, network security, automation, and infrastructure architecture to address complex technical challenges for a wide range of sponsor organizations. Candidates will contribute to:Network Design: Defining validated designs for networks with details required for implementationSoftware-Defined / Virtual Networks: Configuring, deploying, testing and validating the latest technologies in software-defined and virtualized networks as well as "traditional" networkingMission Security and Assurance: Conducting cybersecurity risk assessments of proposed and existing designs to evaluate security posture, identify threats and vulnerabilities, and recommend mitigation strategiesNetwork Data Analytics: Designing, implementing, and enhancing network monitoring and data collection capabilities to provide visibility into performance, availability and operational healthTactical and Threat-Informed Networking: Developing solutions for coupling non-traditional, external threat feeds into traditional network routing parameters (i.e., bandwidth, delay, throughput) to better influence communications paths in challenging network environmentsLab oversight and administration : Contributing to the stand up, compliance, and upkeep of cross-cutting virtual and physical experimentation environments at both the unclassified and classified level.MITRE Lead Network Engineers contribute to the design, implementation, testing, validation, and modernization of secure, resilient, and scalable network environments spanning LAN/WAN, data center, and tactical operations use cases. Lead Network Engineers will be expected to build trusted advisor relationships with the government sponsors. The role requires strong collaboration, technical rigor, and the ability to translate mission needs into practical engineering solutions.Basic Qualifications:Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 6 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 3 years' experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.Must obtain a DoW 8140 IAT Level II certification (eg. Security+) within 3 months of hire.The candidate will engage in hands-on, mission-driven work. Responsibilities span the full solution lifecycle - from design and prototyping through testing, implementation, and monitoring - across various networking use cases and solutions. The candidate is expected to have some experience in the following:Network Design: Defining designs that enable secure, scalable, resilient, and supportable solutions, including target-state designs, operational processes, and implementation artifacts.Software-Defined / Virtual Networks: Some areas of software-defined and virtualized networks, as well as "traditional" networking protocols and concepts, such as the following:SD-WANIPv4/IPv6Interior gateway routing protocols (e.g., BGP and SRv6)KubernetesNetwork segmentationMission Security and Assurance: Conducting and providing:Risk assessmentsThreat and vulnerability identificationMitigation strategy recommendationsCloud Architecture: Recent hands-on familiarity with:Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft AzureNetwork Data Analytics: Monitoring, troubleshooting and managing networks using protocols such as:SNMP and / or SyslogNetFlow/IPFIXAPIs and dashboardsTechnical Reporting and Communications: Clearly communicate technical findings, methodologies, and project outcomes through written reports, briefings, and demonstrations to both internal MITRE & external stakeholders.Knowledge Sharing: Actively participate in internal MITRE technical exchange events focused on emerging trends in networking and service management.Must have an active Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI U.S. Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government's eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.This position requires a minimum of 3 days a week on-site.Preferred Qualifications:Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Data Science related discipline, or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.Associate level networking/security certification(s) such as a Network+, Security+, CCNA or JNCIA.Excellent analytical and problem-solving skillsStrong communication, presentation, and writing skillsThe ability to thrive in collaborative and working relationships with people of different backgrounds.Knowledge of, or hands-on experience in:SD-WAN: Hands-on experience with Juniper Secure Session Routers (SSR) and/or Secure Vector Routing (SVR).Network Services: Recent hands-on experience configuring core network and security services (i.e., DHCP, DNS, NTP, Zero Trust, ICAM) and multiple routing protocols (i.e., OSPF, BGP).Virtualization and Continuous Integration: Experience with DevOps paradigms supported by virtualization, containerization, cloud and serverless architecturesSoftware Development and Automation : Experience using languages like Go, C++, Python, and JavaScript. Strong proficiency in scripting and automation using tools and frameworks like Ansible, Terraform, PowerShell, and Bash. Experience with version control systems, particularly Git, for source code management, collaboration, and CI/CD workflow integration.Network Data Analytics & Monitoring: Experience collecting, process, and analyze large-scale network data (e.g., logs, flows, telemetry, SNMP, etc.) using tools such as Splunk, Elasticsearch, and Wireshark. Develop dashboards and visualizations to monitor network performance, capacity, and anomalies using Grafana, Kibana, and Microsoft Power BI. Implement data pipelines for real-time and batch network analytics using Apache Kafka, Apache Spark, Logstash, and Apache NiFi.Tactical and Thread-Informed Networking: Experience integrating distributed and centralized network control algorithms and / or integrating external inputs to "traditional" network path decision logic to facilitate non-standard (i.e., not "shortest path first") routing.Network Modeling, Simulation and Analysis: Experience with network simulation, emulation, and test methodologies to validate design assumptions and predict performance.