Network Engineer - Top Secret Clearance Required

i3; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

i3 in Chantilly, VA seeks a Senior Network Engineer to design, implement, and optimize resilient, secure networks across multi-enclave environments supporting mission-critical operations. You will provide strategic leadership in modernization, security architecture, and performance optimization.

The role requires a Bachelor's degree and 8+ years of enterprise networking experience, with hands-on skills in Cisco, Arista, VPNs, virtualization, storage, monitoring, and security.

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree required.
• Minimum 8 years of network engineering experience.
• Design and implement secure enterprise network architectures.
• Lead zero-trust network design and multi-enclave interoperability.
• Experience with secure communications in complex environments.
• Strong leadership, communication, and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement enterprise network architectures that support secure, mission-critical operations.
• Lead zero-trust network design initiatives and cross-enclave interoperability solutions.
• Optimize network performance, reliability, and security across complex, multi-enclave environments.
• Establish and enforce network security architecture standards and governance processes.
• Drive network modernization efforts aligned with enterprise strategy and zero-trust principles.
• Ensure secure communications and connectivity across classified and highly regulated environments.
• Provide technical leadership for network infrastructure planning and implementation.
• Partner with security, architecture, and operations teams to maintain resilient network systems.

Skills

Cisco Switching & Routing

Firewalls & IPSEC/DMVPN/SD-WAN

Arista Switching

VPNs & Tunneling (GRE/IPSEC/OpenVPN/Wg

VMware ESXi/vCenter/VSAN

Proxmox & Ceph

Nutanix Prism Central

QNAP/Synology/NetApp

Samba/SSH/NFS

Nessus vulnerability scanning

Splunk familiarity

Linux/Windows system administration

IPA/OpenLDAP/Keycloak

Docker/Kubernetes/GitLab/Jupyter

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree in IT/Networking/Cybersecurity

Tools

VMware vSphere/ESXi

Proxmox

Nutanix Prism Central

Nessus

Splunk

Nginx

Confluence/Jira

Docker

Kubernetes

GitLab

Jupyter

Job description

Network Engineer- Senior

Bachelors degree is required

Minimum 8 years experience

This role leads the design, implementation, and optimization of resilient, secure network infrastructures supporting mission-critical operations. The SME provides strategic and technical leadership in network modernization, security architecture, and performance optimization while ensuring secure and reliable communications across complex, multi-enclave environments.

Unique Skills / Technical Requirements

• Networking
  • Cisco: Switching, Routing, Firewalling, and Site-to-site functionality (such as IPSEC, DMVPN, and SD-WAN)
  • Arista: Switching
  • Tunneling & VPNs: GRE, IPSEC, SSH, SSL, OpenVPN, Wireguard, and specialized multi-tiered applications
  • Virtual Distributed Switching: VMWare, Proxmox, and Nutanix
  • Solutions & Hardware: Client-Server VPNs, Site-to-site VPNs, and ad-hoc vendors or equipment
• Virtualization / Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
  • VMWare / Broadcom: ESXi (vSphere), vCenter, VSAN, VxRail, Cluster management, and Licensing
  • Proxmox: Host and cluster configuration/management, Networking, and Ceph configuration/management
  • Nutanix: Host and cluster configuration, management with Prism Central, and NDFS configuration/management
• Large Data Storage Technologies
  • Hardware/Vendors: QNAP, Synology, TrueNAS, and NetApp
  • File Transport Protocols: Samba, SSH, SFTP, and NFS
• Monitoring & Security
  • Monitoring: Network-based and Host-based collection and monitoring
  • Alerting & Scanning: Internal and external alerting (including SMTP configuration), and Active vulnerability scanning (such as Nessus)
  • SIEM: Splunk familiarity
• System Administration
  • Operating Systems: Linux (e.g., Rocky, RedHat, Amazon, Ubuntu), Windows, and Mac OS
  • Identity & Access Management: IPA / FreeIPA, LDAP / OpenLDAP, Keycloak, and Linux-based SSSD host-based access control (HBAC)
• Applications
  • Splunk, Nginx, Confluence, Jira, Docker, Kubernetes, GitLab, and Jupyter
• Specialized Skillsets
  • Advanced Networking: Multi-tiered

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement enterprise network architectures that support secure, mission-critical operations.
• Lead zero-trust network design initiatives and cross-enclave interoperability solutions.
• Optimize network performance, reliability, and security across complex, multi-enclave environments.
• Establish and enforce network security architecture standards and governance processes.
• Drive network modernization efforts aligned with enterprise strategy and zero-trust principles.
• Ensure secure communications and connectivity across classified and highly regulated environments.
• Provide technical leadership for network infrastructure planning and implementation.
• Partner with security, architecture, and operations teams to maintain resilient network systems.

Required skills

• Extensive experience designing and supporting enterprise network environments.
• Strong expertise in routing, switching, firewalls, VPNs, network security, and access control technologies.
• Experience implementing zero-trust architectures and secure communications solutions.
• Advanced troubleshooting and network performance analysis skills.
• Experience supporting mission-critical, highly secure, or regulated environments.
• Strong leadership, communication, and technical documentation skills.

Preferred skills

• Master's degree in Information Technology, Network Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related field.
• Experience supporting federal, defense, intelligence, or classified network environments.
• Expertise with multi-enclave or cross-domain network architectures.
• Experience with cloud networking, software-defined networking (SDN), and hybrid cloud environments.
• Knowledge of security accreditation processes and compliance frameworks.
• Relevant certifications such as CCNP, CCIE, CISSP, JNCIP, JNCIE, AWS Advanced Networking, or equivalent.