Staff Network Engineer

GEICO • Bethesda, MD

2d • $100,000 - $230,000 • Remote

About The Position

GEICO is seeking an experienced Engineer with a passion for building high-performance, low maintenance, zero-downtime platforms, and applications. You will help drive our insurance business transformation as our company transitions from a traditional IT model to a tech organization with engineering excellence as its mission, while co-creating the culture of psychological safety and continuous improvement. Our Staff Engineer works with our Distinguished Engineer and Sr. Engineers to innovate and build new systems, improve, and enhance existing systems as well as identify new opportunities to apply your knowledge to solve critical problems. You will lead the strategy and execution of a technical roadmap that will increase the velocity of delivering products and unlock new engineering capabilities. The ideal candidate has deep technical expertise in designing, implementing, and maintaining overall network infrastructure.

Requirements

• Experience designing, implementing, and troubleshooting large-scale IP fabrics, including Clos/spine-leaf designs (five-stage Clos experience preferred where applicable)
• Strong understanding of WAN and data center interconnect technologies, including MPLS, VPN, BGP-based designs, and diverse carrier circuits
• Knowledge of network security principles and best practices, including firewalls, VPN, and intrusion detection/prevention concepts as implemented on enterprise platforms
• Expertise in configuring and troubleshooting VPN technologies
• Strong understanding of L2/L3 switching, routing, and high availability patterns in enterprise and data center networks
• Expertise in network routing protocols, such as BGP and OSPF (and related data center routing constructs as used in your environment, for example EVPN where applicable)
• Strong experience with Core, Distribution, Access, VPN, Firewalls, and data center fabric architectures
• Hands-on experience with Palo Alto NGFW platforms and operational patterns (policy lifecycle, segmentation, HA, and ecosystem integration)
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure networking (for example, VNets, ExpressRoute/VPN, hub/spoke, Private Link, load balancing, NSGs, route tables, and DNS integration)
• Experience supporting enterprise DNS (design, operations, migrations, and troubleshooting across on-premises and cloud)
• Experience building or improving observability for networks, including alert design and dashboards tied to operational outcomes
• Programming experience with at least one programming language such as Go, Java, C++, Python, or C#, including object-oriented design where applicable
• Experience with network technology vendors such as Arista, Azure, AWS, GCP, Cisco, IBM, Megaport, Zscaler, and Palo Alto
• Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Ability to excel in a fast-paced, startup-like environment
• In-depth understanding of cloud service models: PaaS, IaaS, SaaS
• 6+ years of professional experience with network engineering or operations
• 4+ years of experience with automation, tooling, or open-source frameworks relevant to network operations (for example, Ansible, Terraform, Git-based workflows, or similar)
• 3+ years of experience with architecture and design for production networks
• 3+ years of experience with Azure (or another major cloud provider, with Azure strongly preferred for this role)
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent education or work experience

Nice To Haves

• One or more of the following active certifications are highly desired: o Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) or equivalent expert-level routing/switching depth o Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) or willingness to pursue within 12 months o Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Associate or equivalent demonstrated Azure networking depth o Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE) or equivalent demonstrated NGFW depth

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain network infrastructure, including five-stage Clos data center fabrics, routers, switches, Palo Alto next-generation firewalls, VPN, hybrid connectivity to Azure, AWS and supporting services such as enterprise DNS
• Implement network policies and security measures to protect against cyber threats and ensure compliance with industry standards
• Design, deploy, and support Azure network infrastructure (for example, VNets, hybrid connectivity, routing, network security, and private access patterns), ensuring performance, security, and reliability
• Implement and maintain observability for the network platform, including metrics, alerts, and dashboards, and use that visibility to drive proactive detection and faster incident response
• Configure and optimize routing and switching behavior across WAN, and data center environments, including traffic engineering, resiliency, and operational guardrails
• Configure and maintain firewall policy, segmentation, and secure connectivity patterns in partnership with security and platform teams
• Collaborate with stakeholders and team members to develop customized network designs and configurations aligned to business outcomes, risk tolerance, and reference architectures
• Monitor network performance and proactively identify and resolve issues to minimize impact and ensure maximum uptime
• Be a role model and mentor, helping to coach and strengthen the technical expertise and know-how of our engineering and product community
• Influence and educate executives
• Consistently share best practices and improve processes within and across teams
• Determine and support resource requirements, evaluate operational processes, measure outcomes to ensure desired results, demonstrate adaptability, and sponsor continuous learning
• Participate in on-call rotation for after-hours support and maintenance activities
• Develop and maintain automation using Python and Ansible (and related tooling) to standardize changes, reduce toil, improve quality, and accelerate safe delivery across routers, switches, firewalls, and cloud network constructs
• Create new and re-engineer existing processes, workflows, scripts, and automation to improve quality and efficiency
• Understand and promote network standards, reference architectures, and frameworks; develop and maintain strategic roadmaps for network platforms and services

Benefits

• 401K savings plan vested from day one that offers a 6% match
• performance and recognition-based incentives
• tuition assistance
• mental healthcare
• fertility and adoption assistance
• workplace flexibility
• GEICO Flex program, which offers the ability to work from anywhere in the US for up to four weeks per year

What This Job Offers

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