Network Engineer SME

*This position will be a W2 Contract for 6 months potential to be extended or converted FTE - Eligibility to obtain Government clearance

JOB SUMMARY:

The Principal Network Subject Matter Expert (SME) will serve as the technical authority for enterprise network architecture, modernization, resiliency, security, and performance on a high-priority federal infrastructure program. The SME will set technical direction, establish standards, and advise customer and program leadership across mission-critical environments.

The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on expertise to approve designs, develop target-state architectures and migration plans, resolve complex issues, and serve as the final technical escalation point. The SME will mentor engineering teams, coordinate cross-functional execution, and work primarily onsite at secure customer locations.

SUMMARY OF ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Serve as the onsite network technical authority and trusted advisor to customer and program leadership.

Define network architecture principles, engineering standards, reference designs, and technology roadmaps for mission-critical environments.

Assess network architecture, performance, capacity, resiliency, security, dependencies, and failure domains across enterprise, data-center, HPC, manufacturing, test, and remote-site environments.

Develop and approve target-state architectures, bills of material, migration strategies, implementation plans, test plans, and operational-readiness criteria.

Lead technical discovery, architecture reviews, and risk assessments; evaluate design alternatives and provide authoritative recommendations.

Ensure network solutions meet requirements for routing, switching, segmentation, security, high availability, remote access, inter-site connectivity, observability, and disaster recovery.

Serve as the final technical escalation point for complex incidents and performance issues, lead root-cause analysis, and drive corrective actions.

Establish configuration, documentation, monitoring, and operational standards that improve consistency, supportability, and service performance.

Communicate technical decisions, risks, dependencies, and trade-offs to customer stakeholders, program leadership, project managers, and engineering teams.

Coordinate technical execution across network, security, systems, storage, facilities, DevOps, application, and program teams.

Mentor engineers, provide technical oversight, and strengthen network engineering practices across the program.

Support onsite assessments, maintenance windows, migrations, incident response, and post-implementation stabilization as required.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

The successful candidate will demonstrate deep network expertise, sound architectural judgment, and the ability to make technical decisions across customer, government, contractor, and engineering organizations.

10+ years of progressively responsible experience designing, modernizing, and supporting complex enterprise networks.

Demonstrated experience serving as a network architect, technical authority, or senior escalation resource in mission-critical environments.

Expertise with Cisco enterprise routing, switching, firewall, VPN, and data-center technologies.

Advanced knowledge of BGP, OSPF, VLANs, VRFs, QoS, multicast, segmentation, high availability, and resilient network design.

Experience developing and approving network architectures, standards, bills of material, migration strategies, implementation plans, test plans, and operational documentation.

Strong knowledge of network security, including firewall policy, micro-segmentation, secure remote access, network access control, and Zero Trust principles.

Expert-level troubleshooting and root-cause analysis across routing, performance, availability, DNS, DHCP, NTP, IP address management, authentication, and application connectivity.

Experience with monitoring and observability technologies, including telemetry, SNMP, syslog, NetFlow/IPFIX, packet capture, alerting, and performance baselining.

Proven ability to assess technical risk, evaluate design trade-offs, and communicate authoritative recommendations to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Ability to lead cross-functional technical execution, mentor senior engineers, and work independently onsite in secure, regulated, federal, defense, manufacturing, or comparable environments.

Initial 6‑month contract with strong potential for extension and possible conversion to a long-term full-time role.

No active clearance required at start; however, candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

Hybrid environment with on-site requirements still being finalized.

Work may be performed at multiple Baltimore-area customer locations, and candidates should be flexible regarding worksite assignment and on-site frequency.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

Knowledge of EVPN/VXLAN, software-defined networking, data-center fabrics, and high-performance or low-latency networks.

Experience architecting network integration for VMware, Kubernetes, OpenShift, Tanzu, AWS, and hybrid-cloud platforms.

Network automation experience using Python, Ansible, APIs, infrastructure as code, or CI/CD practices.

Experience supporting operational technology, manufacturing, specialized test equipment, legacy platforms, air-gapped environments, or systems with limited maintenance windows.

Knowledge of NIST 800-171, NIST 800-53, CMMC, vulnerability management, SIEM/EDR integration, and secure software-import processes.

Familiarity with TDM, serial circuits, and specialized communications technologies.

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: 10+ years of experience

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s Degree in a related field of study preferred but not required

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to:

Remain in a stationary position for extended periods of time.

Operate a computer, keyboard, and other office equipment using hands and fingers.

Communicate effectively in person, over the phone, and through electronic means.

Occasionally move about the office to access files, office equipment, and meeting spaces.

Lift and/or move up to 15 pounds as needed.

Maintain specific vision abilities, including close vision and the ability to adjust focus.

Actual salary will be based on a variety of factors, including location, experience, skill set, performance, licensure and certification, and business needs. The range for this position in other geographic locations may differ. Certain positions may also be eligible for variable incentive compensation, such as bonuses or commissions, that is not included in the base salary.

Estimated Pay Range

$223,000—$243,000 USD