Network Engineer – NMS and Automation (w/ active Secret)
About The Position
Critical Solutions is seeking a Network Engineer specializing in Network Management Systems (NMS) and automation to support a federal customer. The role administers and supports NMS platforms and their RHEL 8 back-end environments across physical, virtual, and air-gapped deployments. It includes operating-system lifecycle management, performance tuning, patching, security and STIG compliance, storage administration, and automation of provisioning and routine tasks. The engineer deploys, upgrades, and troubleshoots enterprise NMS applications; integrates NMS engines with CMDB and ITSM platforms; configures polling, SNMP MIBs and traps, and NetFlow collection; and develops alerting logic and notification profiles. The NMS ecosystem supports fault and performance monitoring, configuration and change control, traffic analytics, and network planning. The position is 100% onsite in Norfolk, Virginia, with Jacksonville, Florida, or Pearl Harbor also listed as acceptable locations. An active DoD Secret clearance and U.S. citizenship are required; the selected candidate must also pass a federal background investigation and fingerprinting.
Requirements
- Active DoD Secret clearance.
- U.S. citizenship.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, IT, Network Engineering, or an equivalent technical field.
- Hands-on experience administering RHEL 8 environments.
- Advanced knowledge of systemd, rsyslog, journald, and RHEL troubleshooting utilities such as top, iotop, netstat, and tcpdump.
- Deep knowledge of SNMP (v3), Syslog, SSH, ICMP, NetFlow, and TACACS+/RADIUS.
- Proficiency in Ansible and scripting languages, including Python and Bash, for infrastructure-as-code configuration.
- Functional understanding of advanced multivendor routing and switching environments, including Cisco, Arista, Brocade, Juniper, and McAfee.
- Functional understanding of enterprise firewalls and access control lists (ACLs).
- Experience with lifecycle management and administration of diverse network nodes.
- Proficiency in scripting languages such as Python, PowerShell, and YAML for network task automation.
- Proficiency in developing, testing, and deploying Ansible playbooks.
- Hands-on experience with network-node configuration management and automated provisioning.
- Ability to design and deploy automated policy enforcement across network infrastructure.
- Expert-level administration, configuration, and end-to-end support of complex NMS platforms such as Cisco Catalyst Center, OpenText Network Automation, OpenText NNMi, and Arista CloudVision.
- Hands-on Red Hat 8 administration and Kubernetes orchestration for modern NMS deployments.
- Ability to analyze complex, ambiguous technical situations and drive root-cause resolution.
- Ability to synthesize complex technical data into concise, high-level summaries for executive decision-making.
- Experience working effectively with distributed, cross-functional teams across the United States.
- Ability to use collaboration tools to coordinate with remote teams.
- Reliability and productivity in a flexible 40-hour workweek schedule.
- Must pass the federal agency background investigation and fingerprinting process.
Nice To Haves
- RHCSA or RHCE certification.
Responsibilities
- Provision, configure, and maintain RHEL 8 servers hosting core NMS applications across physical, virtual, and air-gapped environments.
- Tune Linux kernel parameters, memory allocation, and storage subsystems to handle telemetry and configuration data without data loss.
- Manage security patching and OS updates using Red Hat Satellite or custom repositories.
- Develop and maintain Ansible playbooks and scripts to automate server provisioning, user management, and recurring NMS operational tasks.
- Enforce Linux security policies, access rules, and STIG compliance.
- Configure and expand LVM structures to support NMS databases and syslog storage.
- Deploy, upgrade, and troubleshoot enterprise NMS applications, including OpenText NNMi, OpenText Network Automation, Cisco Catalyst Center, Arista CloudVision, and Aruba Airwave.
- Build and maintain integrations between NMS engines, CMDB asset databases, and ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow via APIs.
- Configure polling intervals, SNMP MIBs and traps, and NetFlow collectors.
- Develop alerting logic, thresholds, and notification profiles that reduce alert fatigue while surfacing critical outages promptly.
- Support fault and performance monitoring, configuration and change control, traffic analytics, and network planning.
- Monitor and proactively tune network nodes for performance.
- Collaborate with distributed, cross-functional teams across the United States and communicate technical findings to executives.
Benefits
- 100% premium coverage for medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
- Supplemental insurance.
- 401(k) matching.
- Flexible Time Off (PTO and holidays).
- Higher education and training reimbursement.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
