Network Engineering Manager, Sovereign Operations, Google Public Sector

Google; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 176,000 - 256,000; Full time

Job summary

Google is seeking a senior Network Engineering leader in Reston, VA to oversee production WAN operations for government customers and air-gapped regions. You will influence design, incident response, and automation to keep our network reliable at scale.

The role requires an active Top Secret/SCI clearance with polygraph, 10+ years in network engineering, 2+ years in leadership, and a bachelor's in CS or related field.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• 10 years of experience in network engineering or technical operations, including Top Secret/classified environments.
• 2 years of experience in technical leadership, people management, or managing engineering teams.
• Active Top Secret/SCI security clearance with current polygraph.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of high-performing network engineers responsible for the full life cycle of classified networks, from inception and architectural design to deployment, operations, and optimization.
• Drive operational strategy and system evolution, establishing engineering best practices to scale infrastructure sustainably through automation, monitoring, and enhanced velocity.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with product management, security compliance, internal application teams, and external government stakeholders to translate complex requirements into resilient network architectures.
• Manage technical project portfolios and resource allocation for WAN capacity expansion, infrastructure upgrades, and critical public sector initiatives.
• Foster technical growth, career development, and performance management for team members while building a high-reliability operational culture.

Skills

Network leadership

Team mentoring

Automation

Incident management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Job description

Must be a US Citizen to meet customer and compliance requirements, including potential access to classified information.

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10 years of experience in network engineering or technical operations, including Top Secret/classified environments.
• 2 years of experience in technical leadership, people management, or managing engineering teams.
• Must possess an active Top Secret/SCI security clearance with current polygraph.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience managing and growing engineering teams responsible for enterprise or service provider network infrastructure.
• Deep domain understanding of network theory, routing protocols (OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, MPLS), network automation, and virtual network services.
• Proven track record of strategic roadmap planning, cross-functional project execution, and operational risk management.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and team-building skills in mission-critical environments.

About The Job

Google is proud to boast a network that provides service to millions of Internet users around the world. The Network Engineering team is responsible for operating that network reliably and at scale. As a member of the team, you have a direct impact on design and feature enhancements to keep our systems running smoothly. You also ensure that network operations are safe and efficient by monitoring network performance, coordinating planned maintenance, adjusting hardware components and responding to network connectivity issues. Google's complex network generates a constant stream of challenges which require you to continually be innovative with an evolving set of technologies. Keeping the network reliable ensures that our users stay connected with our suite of applications, products and services.

In this role, you will lead the team responsible for critical operations and maintenance (O&M) work streams on the production WAN connecting Google air-gapped regions and government customers. You will oversee the health and reliability of physical and virtual cloud networking components, direct incident management strategy, and drive automation initiatives across the organization. You will partner closely with leadership to shape technical roadmaps, manage project execution, and recruit and retain engineering talent.

You will combine strong technical expertise with operational leadership to maintain high availability and performance across internal and cloud-hosted services. You will demonstrate proven experience leading engineering teams operating production-scale networks, along with a deep understanding of service provider protocols, software automation, and classified operational environments.

Google Public Sector brings the magic of Google to the mission of government and education with solutions purpose-built for enterprises. We focus on helping United States public sector institutions accelerate their digital transformations, and we continue to make significant investments and grow our team to meet the complex needs of local, state and federal government and educational institutions.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $176000 - $256000 (USD) + 20% bonus target + equity + benefits

Responsibilities

Learn more about benefits at Google .

• Lead and mentor a team of high-performing network engineers responsible for the full life cycle of classified networks, from inception and architectural design to deployment, operations, and optimization.
• Drive operational strategy and system evolution, establishing engineering best practices to scale infrastructure sustainably through automation, monitoring, and enhanced velocity.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with product management, security compliance, internal application teams, and external government stakeholders to translate complex requirements into resilient network architectures.
• Manage technical project portfolios and resource allocation for WAN capacity expansion, infrastructure upgrades, and critical public sector initiatives.
• Foster technical growth, career development, and performance management for team members while building a high-reliability operational culture.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form .