Network Engineer SME

Trace3•Linthicum Heights, MD

3d•$223,000 - $243,000•Hybrid

About The Position

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 role sets technical direction, establishes standards, and advises customer and program leadership across mission-critical environments. This position 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 and coordinate cross-functional execution. Work is primarily onsite at secure customer locations, although the hybrid environment and onsite requirements are still being finalized. Work may take place at multiple Baltimore-area customer locations, so flexibility regarding worksite assignment and onsite frequency is needed. The role is initially a six-month W2 contract, with potential extension or conversion to a long-term full-time role. No active clearance is required at the start, but candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a security clearance. A related bachelor's degree is preferred but not required. Estimated pay is $223,000–$243,000 USD; actual salary depends on factors including location, experience, skill set, performance, licensure and certification, and business needs.

Requirements

At least 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.
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.
Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a security clearance; an active clearance is not required at the start.
Flexibility regarding worksite assignment and onsite frequency at multiple Baltimore-area customer locations.

Nice To Haves

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.
Bachelor's degree in a related field of study.

Responsibilities

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.