Lead Network Engineer

The MITRE Corporation•New Bedford, MA

4d•$147,200 - $220,800•Onsite

About The Position

At 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. Department Summary: The L616 – Enterprise and Tactical Networking Department within MITRE Technology and Engineering specializes in complex network challenges vital to national well-being. Our work involves researching, developing, and applying advanced technologies in core areas such as: Network architecture and design Software-defined / Virtual networks (SDN/NFV) Network reliability, resilience, mission security and assurance, network data analytics E2E network MS&A, T&E, AFSIM Embedded networks (IoT, ICS, SCADA) Tactical and threat-informed networking By integrating deep technical expertise across these networking domains, we provide our federal sponsors with comprehensive solutions that enable their mission outcomes.

Requirements

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.
Engage in hands-on, mission-driven work. Responsibilities span the full solution lifecycle - from design and prototyping through testing, implementation, and monitoring - across networking and digital service management solutions as well as sponsor engagement, communication, and managing outcomes and deliverables.
Defining designs that enable secure, scalable, resilient, and supportable solutions, including target-state designs, technology standards and compliance frameworks related to network design, operational processes, implementation artifacts
Some areas of software-defined and virtualized networks, as well as “traditional” networking protocols and concepts, such as the following: IPv4/IPv6, Interior gateway routing protocols (e.g., OSPF), SD-WAN, Docker Swarm / Kubernetes, Zero-trust and network segmentation, Identity management
Conducting and providing: Risk assessments, Threat and vulnerability identification, Mitigation strategy recommendations
Applying advanced data analytics and machine learning models for anomaly detection, performance optimization, and root cause analysis. Monitoring, troubleshooting and managing networks using: SNMP and / or Syslog, NetFlow/IPFIX, streaming telemetry, APIs and dashboards
Supporting technical decision-making regarding design, scalability and predicted performance using: network modeling, simulation / emulation, lab / virtualized environments
Must have an active Top Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance.
Must be eligible 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 4 days a week on-site.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Data Science related discipline, or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
Professional or expert level networking certification(s) such as a CCNP/CCIE or JNCIP/JNCIE.
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
Strong communication, presentation, and writing skills
The ability to build collaborative and mutually beneficial working relationships with people of different backgrounds.
Network Automation and Embedded Technologies: Experience with non-traditional enterprise network architectures, such as ad-hoc, mobile deployed networks and large-scale sensor networks as well as protocols such as named data networking and publish / subscribe that facilitate efficient communications over potentially unreliable connection paths.
Virtualization and Continuous Integration: Experience with DevOps paradigms supported by virtualization, containerization, cloud and serverless architectures
Software 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.
Embedded Networks: Experience with Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Control Systems (ICS), and / or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, including protocols and regulatory compliance frameworks such as: Modbus, DNP3, OPC, BACnet, NERC CIP, IEC 62443, NIST SP 800-82
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 modeling, simulation, emulation, and test methodologies to validate design assumptions and predict performance.

Responsibilities

Network Design: Defining validated designs for networks with details required for implementation
Software-Defined / Virtual Networks: Configuring, deploying, testing and validating the latest technologies in software-defined and virtualized networks as well as “traditional” networking
Mission Security and Assurance: Conducting cybersecurity risk assessments of proposed and existing designs to evaluate security posture, identify threats and vulnerabilities, and recommend mitigation strategies
Network Data Analytics: Designing, implementing, and enhancing network monitoring and data collection capabilities to provide visibility into performance, availability and operational health
Network Modeling, Simulation and Analysis: Developing and applying network modeling, simulation, emulation, and test methodologies to validate design assumptions, analyze traffic patterns, assess resiliency, and predict performance and scalability outcomes
Tactical and Thread-Informed Networking: Leading the development of 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 environments
Lead a project and / or teams in the design, implementation, testing, validation, and modernization of secure, resilient, and scalable network environments spanning LAN/WAN, data center, and tactical operations use cases.
Demonstrates the ability to lead technical teams or initiatives, including task decomposition, technical direction, and mentoring of other engineers.
Clearly communicate technical findings, methodologies, and project outcomes through written reports, briefings, and demonstrations for sponsors and internal teams.
Actively participate in internal MITRE technical exchange events focused on emerging trends in networking and service management.