Network Engineer, Lead - Cisco ISE / Firepower

AMERICAN SYSTEMS•Arlington, VA

2d•$155,000 - $180,000•Onsite

About The Position

AMERICAN SYSTEMS, a 100% employee-owned company, is seeking a Lead Network Engineer to support secure network operations in a highly classified environment in Arlington, VA. We’re looking for someone with strong hands-on experience in Cisco ISE, Cisco Firepower, and enterprise network security to make a direct impact on a critical national security mission.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship required
Active TS/SCI clearance required with SAP eligibility
Bachelor’s degree in a related technical field, or additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree
8+ years of network engineering experience in enterprise, defense, intelligence, or other highly regulated environments
Strong experience with Cisco ISE and Cisco Firepower/FMC
Experience supporting AAA, 802.1X, VPN, RMF, and STIG requirements
Active DoD 8140/8570 IAT II certification required, e.g., Security+ CE, CySA+, SSCP, or equivalent
Strong knowledge of Layer 2/Layer 3 networking, routing, switching, VLANs, ACLs, subnetting, and segmentation
Experience troubleshooting Cisco routers, switches, firewalls, and enterprise networks
Ability to work independently and solve complex technical problems
Strong written and verbal communication skills

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting highly compartmented classified environments
Cisco certifications such as CCNA, CCNP Enterprise, CCNP Security, or CCIE
Experience with network modernization, infrastructure upgrades, or technology refresh efforts
Experience with incident response, change management, and root cause analysis in classified environments
Experience supporting virtualized environments such as VMware

Responsibilities

Lead secure network engineering and operational support in a highly classified environment
Configure, administer, and troubleshoot Cisco ISE for authentication, authorization, accounting, network access control, and policy enforcement
Administer and optimize Cisco Firepower and Firepower Management Center (FMC), including policy administration, rule management, and troubleshooting
Design, implement, and maintain secure network infrastructure, including routers, switches, firewalls, VLANs, ACLs, VPNs, and segmented architectures
Troubleshoot complex Layer 2/Layer 3, firewall, authentication, and access control issues
Support AAA, 802.1X, VPN, RMF, STIG, and secure configuration requirements
Develop and maintain network diagrams, implementation plans, SOPs, and technical documentation
Partner with cybersecurity, systems administration, and mission teams to deliver secure, resilient infrastructure solutions
Support incident response, outage resolution, root cause analysis, and network remediation efforts
Recommend improvements to strengthen network performance, security, and reliability