Telecommunications Network Engineer

Booz Allen Hamilton•Annapolis Junction, MD

7h•$77,600 - $176,000•Hybrid

About The Position

At Booz Allen, we power possibility for our clients facing their toughest challenges. Our cross-domain team of advisors, technologists, researchers, engineers, and cyber experts builds innovative solutions for the infrastructure and capabilities of tomorrow. We're trusted partners on our clients' most critical missions, and we bring expertise to the table, but it's our attitude, our courage, curiosity, and passion for tomorrow, that makes us unique. We're seeking a Network Engineer to join a team that is building, integrating, and hardening next-generation telecommunications infrastructure that fuses carrier-grade networking with AI/ML acceleration. You'll work in a hands-on, fast-moving lab environment where systems need to be stood up, reconfigured, and troubleshot quickly, often on tight timelines ahead of demos, pilots, and government stakeholder reviews. You do not need prior cellular or open RAN experience to succeed here. We will teach the radio access side to a strong network engineer. What we need you to bring is deep Layer 2 and Layer 3 fundamentals, precision timing, Linux, and the discipline to document as you build. If you thrive when the pressure is on and enjoy tearing down and rebuilding systems until they work, we want to hear from you.

Requirements

5+ years of experience with network engineering including telecommunications, defense systems, or enterprise networking
Experience configuring and troubleshooting Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching and routing including VLAN design, trunking, QoS policy configuration, and ACLs
Experience with Linux server administration including Ubuntu, RHEL, networking, SSH hardening, and log management
Experience with virtualization or containers such as VMware, Proxmox, KVM, Docker, or Kubernetes in a lab or production environment
Knowledge of IP networking fundamentals such as subnetting, routing, SCTP, UDP, TCP, DNS, and TLS
Ability to read and interpret packet captures such as Wireshark and tcpdump for protocol-level troubleshooting
Ability to work in a fast-paced lab environment with hard delivery deadlines and produce clear, accurate technical documentation under time pressure
Ability to triage and resolve issues independently without waiting for escalation
Ability to obtain a Secret clearance
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications, or a related field, or equivalent experience

Responsibilities

Build, rack, cable, and configure the lab network stack including GPU-accelerated servers, enterprise switching, radio and antenna hardware, and supporting infrastructure.
Configure and validate precision timing distribution, including a PTP IEEE 1588 grandmaster with GPS or GNSS lock and SyncE, and verify the timing chain to downstream clients.
Design and implement VLAN segmentation for management, control, user, and timing traffic.
Configure QoS or CoS priority queuing for latency-sensitive, high-throughput flows.
Deploy and configure IP networking for all platform interfaces including transport and backhaul, device management, out-of-band server management, and Kubernetes cluster and pod networks.
Stand up and validate virtualized network functions on hypervisor VMs, including subscriber provisioning, routing, and policy configuration, and verify end-to-end connectivity.
Deploy and troubleshoot containerized network workloads on Kubernetes running on GPU-accelerated servers and validate interface connectivity between distributed components.
Provision and validate end-user devices and SIM or eSIM credentials and execute device connectivity, session establishment, and throughput validation such as iperf3.
Apply security hardening including CIS Level 1 baseline on Ubuntu, STIG checklists, NAC, and 802.1X configuration such as Aruba ClearPass, Cisco ISE, and TLS on management interfaces.
Write and maintain technical documentation, including Method of Procedure (MOP), Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), configuration guides, and troubleshooting guides, concurrently with lab work, not after the fact.
Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to translate mission requirements into working network configurations.