Network Adminstrator

Leidos•Fort Meade, MD

9d•$73,450 - $132,775•Onsite

About The Position

This is an opportunity to join an experienced network operations team responsible for maintaining secure, reliable, and highly available infrastructure supporting critical customer systems. The ideal candidate will have solid hands-on experience supporting enterprise network environments and be comfortable troubleshooting network connectivity, switching, routing, firewall, and VPN issues. This role is well suited for a mid-level network professional who can independently handle day-to-day operational responsibilities while continuing to develop deeper network engineering and security skills.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree with 4+ years of relevant network administration/network operations experience; additional relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Hands-on experience administering and troubleshooting enterprise Cisco routing and switching environments.
Working knowledge of TCP/IP, VLANs, subnetting, routing, switching, DNS, DHCP, NAT, ACLs, and VPN technologies.
Experience troubleshooting network connectivity and performance issues using standard network diagnostic tools.
Working knowledge of enterprise firewall technologies.
Hands-on Palo Alto PAN-OS and Panorama experience.
Experience with GlobalProtect remote access and VPN.
Understanding of ITIL-based incident, request, problem, and change management processes.
Ability to document technical procedures, network changes, troubleshooting activities, and incident resolution.
Ability to communicate effectively with technical teams, management, and customers.
Ability to work independently on routine operational issues and recognize when escalation to senior engineering staff is required.
Must possess or be able to obtain the required DoD 8140/IAT Level II baseline certification within 90 days.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in information technology, Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related technical field.
Cisco CCNA certification and/or Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall Engineer
CompTIA Security+ CE certification.
Experience supporting Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewalls and Panorama.
Experience with Palo Alto security policies, zones, NAT, routing, and threat-prevention profiles.
Experience with enterprise Cisco Catalyst and/or Nexus switching platforms.
Experience supporting network infrastructure in DoD or other federal government environments.
Familiarity with network monitoring and management platforms.
Familiarity with network automation or scripting technologies such as PowerShell, Python, or Ansible.
Experience supporting infrastructure within formal change and configuration management processes.
Active DoD Secret clearance.

Responsibilities

Administer, maintain, and troubleshoot enterprise network infrastructure in a secure production environment.
Support Cisco routing and switching infrastructure, including VLANs, trunking, routing protocols, access controls, and network connectivity.
Perform configuration changes, software updates, and routine maintenance on network devices in accordance with established change management procedures.
Support Palo Alto firewalls and Panorama, including policy updates, rule reviews, troubleshooting, and log analysis.
Monitor network devices, firewall logs, alerts, availability, capacity, and performance to identify and resolve potential issues.
Support and troubleshoot site-to-site and remote-access VPN connectivity.
Troubleshoot network incidents involving connectivity, routing, switching, DNS, DHCP, firewall rules, access, and network performance.
Perform initial analysis of network incidents and escalate complex engineering issues when appropriate.
Participate in incident and problem management activities, including identifying root causes and documenting corrective actions.
Work within a hybrid, multi-location operations team supporting existing production environments.
Coordinate with server, virtualization, cybersecurity, application, and other infrastructure teams to troubleshoot issues spanning multiple technologies.
Manage incidents, service requests, change requests, and problem tickets through their full lifecycle.
Perform network health checks and review performance data to identify trends or potential issues.
Maintain accurate network diagrams, device inventories, configuration documentation, troubleshooting procedures, and knowledge articles.
Provide clear status updates for incidents, maintenance activities, and ongoing technical issues.
Assist senior network engineers with network upgrades, migrations, refresh activities, and implementation of new technologies.
Identify opportunities to improve operational processes, monitoring, automation, and overall network reliability.
Participate in scheduled maintenance activities and provide after-hours or on-call support as required.