Network Engineer

Viasat; Carlsbad (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Viasat is seeking a highly skilled Network Engineer to design, secure, and maintain resilient networks across physical and virtual environments for the Government division. You will lead initiatives from concept to deployment, mentor engineers, and serve as a senior escalation point for complex incidents.

The role requires 5+ years in networking, strong security expertise, and the ability to work across hybrid cloud environments.

Qualifications

• 5+ years' demonstrated experience with routing and switching protocols, firewall policies and virtual machines.
• Experience designing, implementing and supporting enterprise network environments.
• Strong expertise in network security, including firewalls, segmentation, encryption (IPsec/TLS), secure remote access and IDS/IPS.
• Deep knowledge of routing and switching technologies.
• Core networking protocols: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, BGP, VRFs, VLANs, VPNs, NAT.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and safeguard resilient, high-availability, and hardened network architectures across physical and virtual networks.
• Lead infrastructure initiatives from concept to deployment across hybrid environments using zero-trust, micro-segmentation, and secure remote access.
• Perform complex troubleshooting, RCA, and incident remediation; participate in on-call rotations.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, ISPs, and vendors for circuit delivery and third-party support.

Skills

Routing & Switching

Firewall policies

Network troubleshooting

On-call readiness

Technical communication

Education

Associates degree in Computer Science/Engineering/Information Systems

Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/IT

CCNA/CCIE/CISSP

CompTIA Security+

Tools

VMware

Hyper-V

Windows Server

SNMP/NetFlow

Job description

About us

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we're on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We're looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team.

What you'll do

We are seeking a highly skilled and expert Network Engineer specializing in networking and infrastructure systems in a rapidly growing environment. This role will support a team that plays a critical role in architecting, developing, securing and maintaining multiple networks and systems withing the Viasat Government organization.

The day-to-day

This is a high-impact role designed for an authority who balances visionary engineering with elite problem solving. You will design, build, and safeguard resilient, high-availability, and hardened network architectures across physical and virtual networks. Beyond standard operations, you will act as the final escalation point for sophisticated infrastructure anomalies, maintain standards, and mentor a talented team of engineers to elevate our overall operational maturity. The successful applicant must be self-motivated and be capable of completing sophisticated tasks with minimum supervision and have the confidence and ability to promote improvements and introduce new technologies.

Operations & Corrective Maintenance: Perform complex troubleshooting across routing, switching, firewalls, compute, storage, virtual machines, and cloud environments. Participate in an on-call rotation to resolve incidents, conduct root-cause analyses (RCA) and implement upgrades or hardware replacements

Architecture, Design & Project Delivery: Lead infrastructure initiatives from concept to deployment. Design scalable, high-availability networks across hybrid environments using zero-trust architecture, micro-segmentation, wireless and secure remote access solutions

Preventative Maintenance & Telemetry: Conduct routine system inspections, backups, and physical maintenance. Proactively monitor performance and capacity using telemetry and observability tools to resolve issues before service impact

Cybersecurity & Compliance: Partner with the CSOC and Security Engineering teams to remediate vulnerabilities and support incident response. Execute quarterly STIGs and support routine Risk Management Framework (RMF) and Authorization to Operate (ATO) compliance activities

Documentation & Automation: Maintain accurate IP Address Management (IPAM), runbooks, network diagrams, rack elevations and System Change Control logs. Build automation scripts for routine provisioning, configuration management and operational workflows

Vendor & Stakeholder Coordination: Collaborate with cross-functional teams, ISPs, and vendors for circuit delivery, hardware installations, and third-party support

What you'll need

• 5+ years' demonstrated experience with routing and switching protocols, firewall policies and virtual machines
• Proven handson experience designing, implementing and supporting enterprise network environments
• Strong expertise in network security, including firewalls, segmentation, encryption (IPsec/TLS), secure remote access and intrusion detection/prevention systems
• Deep knowledge of routing and switching technologies
• Solid understanding of core networking protocols, such as TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, BGP, VRFs, VLANs, VPNs, NAT
• Experience with hybrid cloud networking and cloud-native network constructs (VPC/VNet design, routing, security groups, load balancers)
• Familiarity with network monitoring, logging and observability tools (e.g., SNMP, NetFlow, Syslog, modern NPM tools).
• Working knowledge of compute platforms and operating systems (Windows, Linux, virtualization such as VMware/HyperV)
• Validated expertise in end-to-end network and infrastructure troubleshooting, root cause analysis (RCA), and incident remediation
• Experience with high availability design, failover strategies, and disaster recovery planning
• Superb communication, documentation, and multi-functional collaboration skills
• Ability to participate in after-hours maintenance, cutovers and incident response
• Associates degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Systems or equivalent technical experience
• Active CCNA, CCIE, CISSP or equivalent professional-level certification
• CompTIA Security+ required (must be obtained within 45 days of hire)
• Capacity to engage in a regular on-call operational rotation as needed
• US government position. US Citizenship required
• Active DoD Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility (TS/SCI)
• Ability to travel up to 15%

What will help you on the job

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology

• Professional-level certifications such as Palo Alto Certifications or Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)

• Practical experience managing, securing, and maintaining enterprise virtualization platforms (VMware, Hyper-V) and Windows Server environments

• Broad experience configuring, administering, upgrading and securing multi-vendor hardware, OS platforms, and enterprise applications

• Hands-on scripting and automation experience using Python, Ansible, PowerShell, or Terraform for network provisioning and operational tasks

• Demonstrated experience in cloud environments, including cloud-native firewalls, Web Application Firewalls (WAFs), and edge security platforms

• Practical experience implementing Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), SASE, or SSE modern security architectures

• Familiarity with security compliance frameworks (e.g., NIST, CMMC, SOC 2) and secure-by-design principles

• Hands-on familiarity with vulnerability assessment tools like Nessus and Tenable SecurityCenter

• Strong foundation in Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems

• Experience interfacing with ISPs to manage circuit delivery across diverse media

Salary range

$121,000.00 - $191,000.00 / annually.

For specific work locations within San Jose, the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, the base pay range for this role is $150,000.00- $225,000.00/ annually

At Viasat, we consider many factors when it comes to compensation, including the scope of the position as well as your background and experience. Base pay may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Additional cash or stock incentives may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered. Learn more about Viasat's comprehensive benefit offerings that are focused on your holistic health and wellness at https://careers.viasat.com/benefits.

EEO Statement

Viasat is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, genetics, age, or veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic. If you would like to request an accommodation on the basis of disability for completing this on-line application, please click here.