Principal Network Engineer--Routing & Switching
P W Communications Inc
- Location
- Hybrid (Fort Meade, Maryland)
- Compensation
- $86k - $92k/yr
- Employment
- Full-time
- Level
- Senior Level
About the role
PW Communications supports the Defense Information Systems Agency's Fourth Estate Network Optimization program by modernizing enterprise IT systems for DoD Fourth Estate agencies. The role serves as the senior technical authority for routing and switching architecture, driving strategic design and implementation efforts.
Skills
Perks
- Hybrid Work
Full job details
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 Principal Network Engineer specializing in routing and switching to serve as the senior technical authority for the routed and switched enterprise. The role is responsible for advancing network innovation through the execution of strategic design and implementation efforts that improve the security, scalability, resiliency, and performance of the enterprise network. This position is responsible for overall network engineering support across a broad range of efforts, including planning, designing, and evaluating the various components of the network. Duties include providing specifications for network architecture, evaluating and recommending new technologies to enhance current capabilities, performing needs assessments, and directing the installation, modification, testing, and servicing of network infrastructure.
The successful candidate sets technical direction for routing and switching across the enterprise: defining standards, resolving the architecture questions no one else can, and directing the work of other engineers against designs they own.
Scope and Impact
- Impact: Influences development of solutions that impact strategic project and program goals and business results. Recommends and develops new technical solutions, products, and standards. Leads and manages the work of other technical staff that has significant impact on project results and outputs.
- Complexity: Resolves highly complex problems through significant application of technical knowledge, conceptualization, reasoning, and interpretation. Develops solutions that are highly innovative and achieved through research and integration of best practices.
- Communication: Communicates with executive and client leadership on matters of significant technical importance. Presents architecture recommendations, implementation plans, risks, dependencies, and status to technical leadership, stakeholders, and approval boards, and works to build consensus around new concepts, practices, and approaches.
- Knowledge: In-depth understanding of network engineering principles, theories, and concepts and their application across a range of programs. Serves as a subject matter expert within the routing and switching domain.
Primary Responsibilities
Architecture and Design Authority
- Own the enterprise routing and switching architecture, including core, distribution, access, WAN edge, and data center interconnect designs.
- Define routing architecture and policy standards across BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, and static routing, including addressing strategy, route filtering and summarization, path selection, redistribution boundaries, and convergence targets.
- Define Layer 2 and high-availability architecture, including VLAN and spanning-tree strategy, link aggregation, redundancy models, VRF and segmentation structure, multicast design, and QoS policy architecture.
- Evaluate the current network architecture, identify gaps and improvement opportunities, estimate level of effort, assess implementation risk, and develop practical engineering plans to improve enterprise capabilities.
- Provide specifications for network architecture, evaluate and recommend emerging technologies, and perform needs assessments to inform design and investment decisions.
- Establish and enforce configuration standards, design patterns, and technical baselines that other engineers build against.
Project Execution
- Drive strategic engineering projects from concept through implementation, including architecture evaluation, requirements analysis, dependency identification, design coordination, planning, execution, validation, and transition to operations.
- Develop and manage implementation plans, schedules, cutover strategies, contingency plans, rollback procedures, validation steps, stakeholder communications, and change documentation for mission-critical network changes.
- Lead network modernization efforts such as segmentation, IPv4/IPv6 transition, network optimization, connectivity consolidation, lifecycle replacement, automation, and software-defined networking adoption.
- Coordinate change windows, maintenance activities, test validation, and rollback procedures for high-impact network activities.
- Partner with architecture, cybersecurity, operations, project management, and technical SME teams to resolve blockers, manage dependencies, and reduce delivery risk.
Technical Leadership
- Serve as the final technical escalation point for complex routing, switching, transport, and performance problems spanning multiple domains and vendors.
- Provide technical direction, mentoring, and day-to-day guidance to network engineers, administrators, and analysts; review designs and implementation work for technical quality.
- Organize technical priorities, track details across concurrent efforts, manage competing demands, and maintain accountability against aggressive schedules.
- Continuously improve engineering processes, documentation standards, implementation playbooks, migration runbooks, technical standards, and execution models to accelerate delivery, reduce rework, improve operational handoff, and lower sustainment burden.
Documentation
Develop and maintain engineering and operational documentation, including:
- Logical and physical network designs and architecture diagrams
- Routing architecture, policy standards, and addressing plans
- Configuration standards, design patterns, and technical baselines
- Implementation and cutover plans with rollback and contingency procedures
Test and validation plans
- Risk, dependency, and decision registers
- Technical standards, playbooks, and runbooks
- As-built and operations transition documentation
Key Success Factors
This position requires more than a senior engineer executing assigned work. It requires the person who decides what the routing and switching architecture should be, defends that decision in front of leadership and approval boards, and then makes sure it gets built correctly.
The successful engineer is equally credible in the deepest technical detail — a BGP path-selection argument, a convergence problem nobody else has reproduced — and in a room where the question is what the enterprise should do next and why.
Basic Qualifications
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience and 12+ years of prior relevant experience, or Master's degree with 10+ years of experience. Specific experience, education, and training may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Expert-level hands-on experience designing, engineering, and troubleshooting enterprise routing and switching infrastructure in large, complex environments.
Deep knowledge of TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, route policy and redistribution, VLANs, spanning tree, link aggregation, VRFs, MPLS, multicast, QoS, NAT, and high-availability design.
Experience evaluating enterprise network architectures and developing improvement plans across LAN, WAN, WLAN, routing, switching, firewalls, VPN, proxies, software-defined networking, and cloud-connected environments.
Experience leading network engineering projects from planning through implementation, including requirements analysis, dependency management, risk reduction, contingency planning, execution oversight, validation, and operational transition.
Experience serving as a senior technical lead directing the work of other network engineers, administrators, or analysts.
Hands-on experience with two or more of the following network technologies: Cisco, Aruba, Palo Alto, Dell, Infoblox, and Brocade.
Experience documenting logical and physical network designs, implementation plans, risks, dependencies, decision points, and technical recommendations using tools such as Visio, PowerPoint, Cameo, or similar.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting architecture recommendations, implementation plans, risks, and status to technical leadership, stakeholders, and approval boards.
Current IAT Level II or higher certification, such as Security+ or CISSP.
Active DoD Secret clearance.
Preferred Qualifications
Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Enterprise, CCIE, or equivalent certification.
Experience leading enterprise network innovation efforts such as segmentation, enterprise Wi-Fi modernization, IPv6 transition, automation, SDN, cloud connectivity, zero-trust-aligned networking, or security stack modernization.
Experience with SD-WAN, SD-Access, Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center), or similar controller-based network architectures.
Experience with network automation and infrastructure-as-code using Python, Ansible, REST APIs, or similar.
Experience integrating enterprise networking with cloud infrastructure, including hybrid connectivity, cloud routing, and secure interconnects.
Experience developing repeatable engineering execution frameworks, implementation playbooks, migration runbooks, technical standards, and risk-reduction processes.
Experience with Jira, Confluence, or other project and knowledge-management tools used to coordinate technical work across distributed engineering teams.
Understanding of Federal Government application, server, and network security requirements such as NIST, FedRAMP, FISMA, RMF, and DoD cybersecurity requirements.
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.