active Secret)

Critical Solutions•Norfolk, VA

7h•Onsite

About The Position

Critical Solutions is seeking a VPN/Firewall Network Engineer to support a federal customer as part of its Transport Operations team. The engineer will provide VPN, DMZ, and firewall network engineering subject matter expertise for the Agency’s network, contributing to its modification, operation, integration, maintenance, security, and implementation of services. The role involves designing, implementing, and maintaining network security solutions, configuring enterprise-grade Juniper firewalls, managing DMZ environments, engineering Firewall/VPN solutions, and administering Cisco network appliances. The engineer will collaborate with engineering, project management, operations, and customer teams to protect network infrastructure and support operational integrity. The position also supports Incident Response, Change Management, Problem Management, Operations and Maintenance, ITSM, and DevSecOps initiatives. Work is onsite in Norfolk, Virginia, with other acceptable locations listed as Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; San Diego, California; Washington, DC; or Pensacola, Florida. The schedule is 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with weekend on-call duties as needed. An active DoD Secret clearance and U.S. citizenship are required. The selected candidate must also undergo and pass the federal agency’s background investigation and fingerprinting.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship and an active DoD Secret security clearance.
A bachelor’s degree with relevant prior experience; work experience may substitute for the degree at the Hiring Manager’s discretion.
An active DoD 8570.01 IAT Level III certification, such as CCNP Security, CISSP, or CASP+.
An active Associate-level network vendor certification from Cisco, Juniper, Palo Alto, or F5 Networks.
Ability to work or be called in during off-hours to meet customer mission support requirements.
Extensive experience engineering and troubleshooting networks, including routing, switching, MPLS, VPNs, routing protocols such as BGP, OSPF, and IS-IS, switching protocols such as Spanning Tree Protocol, VLANs, LLDP, and VoIP, multicast protocols, and emerging network technologies.
Strong understanding of IP network and subnet addressing.
In-depth knowledge of defense-in-depth principles, network architecture, modern network topologies, network appliance integrity, and common network security elements.
Experience with Ansible, Python, and infrastructure-as-code network automation.
Successfully pass the federal agency background investigation and fingerprinting process.

Responsibilities

Provide VPN, DMZ, and firewall network engineering subject matter expertise for Agency current operations.
Modify, operate, integrate, maintain, secure, and implement services for the as-fielded Agency network.
Collaborate with the Network Operations Center, Network Administrators, and Network Engineering Team to define and continuously improve network security appliances, test and validation automation, and best practices.
Lead development of network SOPs/TTPs and continuous service improvements.
Tune and enhance system performance.
Create and maintain Engineering Implementation Plans (EIPs).
Plan and execute network upgrades and maintenance activities with the Operations Manager, NOC Lead, Release Management team, and other stakeholders.
Provide Tier III escalation support and engage vendors for Incident Management activities.
Participate in Root Cause Analysis for Problem Management activities.
Provide Tier III support to NOC watch staff as a network subject matter expert.
Perform technical maintenance and configuration of firewalls, VPNs, and DMZ appliances.
Participate in the Transport Operations team’s on-call rotation and be available for off-hours work as needed.