Senior OT Network Engineer

Athletes Global Corporation • Indian Head, MD

5d • $150,000 - $165,000 • Onsite

About The Position

We partner with the U.S. national defense community to create fully integrated, resilient, and innovative digital solutions that enable smart, real-time decision-making. We work with our customers on everything from conquering their data to improving and safeguarding IT infrastructure. Our ultimate goal is to enhance the nation’s ability to identify, address, and act — no matter what challenges arise.

This role is responsible for the end-to-end design, implementation, and evolution of a secure, private, air-gapped OT network. The engineer will be the initial and sole network authority, owning technical decisions from assessment through deployment, with designs reviewed and certified by external stakeholders.

Requirements

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience as a hands-on network engineer
• Proven experience designing and implementing industrial / OT networks
• Strong hands-on background with enterprise switches and firewalls (Cisco and Dell preferred)
• Strong hands-on background with server configuration (Linux and Windows), Windows workstations
• Strong hands-on background with fiber and copper cabling in industrial environments
• Strong hands-on background with VLANs, subnetting, routing, and network segmentation
• Experience working in air-gapped or highly restricted environments
• Familiarity with DoD / Navy cybersecurity expectations, including designing systems that can be certified
• Understanding of PLC, HMI, and industrial data flows
• Ability to operate independently and make sound technical decisions with minimal oversight
• Strong documentation and communication skills
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or related discipline, or equivalent military experience
• Minimum of DoD 8140 / DoD 8570 IASAE Level II certification
• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills
• Excellent communication skills

Responsibilities

• Assess the existing network and industrial infrastructure, including switches, firewalls, cabling, and servers, to determine hardware reuse opportunities, upgradability and lifecycle risks, security and compliance gaps relative to DoD / Navy standards, security posture and compliance risk, operational reliability and uptime, cost, procurement lead time, and vendor supportability.
• Design a private, air-gapped OT network architecture from the ground up, including VLAN and subnetting strategy aligned to industrial control boundaries, secure zoning between PLCs, HMIs, control rooms, and server rooms, and isolation between multiple control/manufacturing groups with no lateral communication.
• Architect and implement a private OT network that integrates with a newly deployed private 5G backbone being built and operated by a separate team, integrating private 5G connectivity between control rooms, server rooms, and operational areas, fiber connectivity from manufacturing buildings to their associated control rooms, and clear security boundaries between wireless, fiber, and core infrastructure.
• Hands-on implementation of all network infrastructure, including racking, cabling, labeling, and power coordination, configuration of Cisco and Dell network equipment, firewall rules, routing, switching, and management plane access.
• Enable secure OT data flows, including PLC → HMI communication within control rooms, controlled PLC/HMI data forwarding to centralized server infrastructure, and protection of industrial systems from unintended access or broadcast traffic.
• Produce and maintain authoritative network documentation to support compliance certification, including logical and physical network diagrams, IP address management and VLAN maps, as-built and as-designed artifacts, clear security boundaries and documentation for RMF/STIG review, and logging, segmentation, and access controls required for auditability.
• Build the network as a scalable platform, not a one-off deployment, ensuring additional control/manufacturing groups can be added with minimal redesign and capacity, addressing, and segmentation can evolve over time.
• Serve as the technical authority for network decisions, working with stakeholders to explain trade-offs and risks clearly, support procurement, installation, and acceptance activities, and guide future expansion and modernization efforts.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior