Principal Network Engineer
About The Position
MITRE’s Intelligent Network Services department is seeking a Principal Network Engineer to address complex technical challenges for sponsor organizations. The role applies expertise in enterprise networking, network security, automation, and infrastructure architecture to design, implement, test, validate, and modernize secure, resilient, and scalable network environments across LAN/WAN, data centers, and emerging AI infrastructure. The engineer collaborates with others and translates mission needs into practical engineering solutions. The position covers the full solution lifecycle, from design and prototyping through testing, implementation, and monitoring, across networking and digital service management. Work includes defining network and service-management architecture and strategy; deploying and validating infrastructure and security services; supporting data-center operations and transformation; improving monitoring and observability; applying network modeling and simulation; using ITSM practices and platforms; assessing cybersecurity risks; communicating technical findings; and sharing knowledge with colleagues. The position requires at least four days per week onsite.
Requirements
- Typically, at least 10 years of related experience with a bachelor's degree; or 8 years with a master's degree; or a Ph.D. with 5 years of experience; or an equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
- Must have an active Secret U.S. Government-issued security clearance and be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret U.S. Government-issued security clearance.
- Must be a U.S. citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
- Must work onsite at least four days per week.
- Knowledge of network architecture, enterprise network implementation and validation, data-center networking and operations, network monitoring, network modeling and simulation, ITSM, and cybersecurity risk analysis.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Strong communication, presentation, and writing skills.
- Ability to build collaborative and mutually beneficial working relationships with people of different backgrounds.
- Certifications such as CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, or ITIL.
- Knowledge of or hands-on experience designing, deploying, validating, and optimizing AI infrastructure and AI data-center networks, including high-bandwidth, low-latency architectures, large-scale east-west traffic, leaf-spine fabrics, high-speed Ethernet and/or InfiniBand, RDMA/RoCE, segmentation, load balancing, resiliency, and performance testing for AI/ML workloads.
- Software development experience using languages such as C++, Python, and JavaScript.
- Experience with scripting and automation tools such as Ansible, Terraform, PowerShell, and Bash, and with development and administration in Linux environments.
Responsibilities
- Define architecture and engineering strategies for network and service-management platforms, including target-state designs, technology standards, service frameworks, operational processes, and implementation artifacts.
- Configure, deploy, test, and validate enterprise network infrastructure and security services across IPv4/IPv6, LAN/WAN, campus, branch, data-center, and cloud environments.
- Drive infrastructure automation, configuration compliance, and repeatable deployments.
- Support data-center network planning, design, implementation, daily operations, capacity management, consolidation, relocation, and migration initiatives.
- Apply knowledge of servers, hypervisors, virtual machines, containers, Kubernetes, backup and recovery systems, routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, and data, voice, and video networks.
- Contribute to modern architecture and operating models, including Software-Defined Data Center and hyperconverged infrastructure.
- Design, implement, and enhance network monitoring and observability capabilities for performance, availability, fault conditions, and operational health.
- Use monitoring tools and protocols to support event correlation, alerting, incident response, capacity planning, trend analysis, and service reliability.
- Develop and apply network modeling, simulation, emulation, and testing methods to evaluate architectures, validate design assumptions, analyze traffic patterns, assess resiliency, and predict performance and scalability.
- Support technical decision-making with scenario analysis, failure testing, what-if assessments, and lab, virtualized, or digital-twin environments.
- Apply ITSM principles and platforms, including ServiceNow, to improve service delivery and operational efficiency, and support incident and problem management, change control, request fulfillment, asset and configuration management, and continual service improvement.
- Conduct cybersecurity risk assessments of proposed architectures, designs, and implementation plans; identify threats, vulnerabilities, and control gaps; and recommend mitigation strategies, compensating controls, and risk-based trade-offs.
- Communicate technical findings, methodologies, and project outcomes through written reports, briefings, and demonstrations.
- Participate in internal MITRE technical exchange events focused on emerging networking and service-management trends.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
