Network Engineering/Operations Site Lead

Leidos; Springfield (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos is seeking a mission-focused Network Engineering Operations Manager / Site Lead to guide a ~14-person team supporting DTRA under the I3TS contract. This leadership role emphasizes project-oriented planning, cyber compliance, and strong government engagement.

The incumbent will not perform hands-on engineering but will coordinate risk, staffing, and delivery across enterprise networks. The ideal candidate excels in developing personnel, setting priorities, and delivering reliable services

Qualifications

• Experience leading a network engineering team in a mission-critical environment.
• Strong communication with government stakeholders and program leadership.
• Solid understanding of enterprise networking and cybersecurity concepts.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day leadership for a team of network engineers supporting enterprise operations and mission requirements.
• Set clear priorities, assign work, ensure staffing and coverage for operations and projects.
• Coach, mentor, and develop team members with feedback, goals, performance reviews, and career plans.
• Foster accountability, collaboration, customer service, continuous improvement, and mission ownership.
• Recognize performance, address concerns, and maintain high standards of conduct and delivery.
• Lead cross-training and succession planning to reduce single points of failure and improve resilience.

Skills

Leadership

Enterprise networking

Cybersecurity knowledge

Stakeholder communication

Team development

Risk assessment

Job description

Leidos is seeking a mission-focused Network Engineering Operations Manager / Site Lead to lead a team of approximately 14 network engineers supporting the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) under the Integrated Information Technology Support Services (I3TS) contract.

This is a people‑leadership and operations‑management role , not a hands‑on keyboard engineering position. The ideal candidate is a proven leader who can establish priorities, develop personnel, maintain operational discipline, and communicate credibly with engineers, government stakeholders, and program leadership. The successful candidate will understand enterprise networking and cybersecurity well enough to ask the right questions, assess risk, remove barriers, and make sound management decisions-but will rely on the technical expertise of the engineering team for detailed design and implementation.

Military veterans‑particularly former senior enlisted leaders, warrant officers, and officers with experience leading technical teams, communications units, cyber operations, or enterprise IT organizations‑are strongly encouraged to apply.

Mission

DTRA’s mission requires secure, resilient, and responsive information technology. As the Network Engineering / Operations Site Lead, you will ensure the network engineering team is organized, accountable, and equipped to deliver reliable enterprise network services in a high‑tempo, mission‑critical environment.

You will lead through clarity, coaching, standards, and trust‑developing engineers while ensuring the team meets operational commitments, cybersecurity requirements, customer expectations, and contract deliverables.

Primary Responsibilities

Lead, Develop, and Manage the Team

• Provide day‑to‑day leadership for a team of approximately 14 network engineers supporting enterprise operations, modernization, cybersecurity compliance, and mission requirements.
• Set clear priorities, assign work, manage competing demands, and ensure appropriate staffing coverage for operational and project requirements.
• Coach, mentor, and develop team members through regular feedback, goal setting, performance management, training plans, and career development.
• Build a culture of accountability, professional rigor, collaboration, customer service, continuous improvement, and mission ownership.
• Recognize strong performance, address performance concerns promptly and constructively, and maintain high standards of conduct and delivery.
• Foster cross‑training, succession planning, and knowledge sharing to reduce single points of failure and improve team resilience.

Drive Mission Execution and Operational Discipline

• Translate government requirements, operational priorities, task orders, and program objectives into clear, executable team plans.
• Lead the team’s response to Cyber Tasking Orders (CTOs), Tasking Orders (TASKORDs), Fragmentary Orders (FRAGORDs), Information Assurance Vulnerability Management (IAVM) requirements, and Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) compliance activities.
• Establish and monitor operational metrics, service‑level performance, project milestones, workload, risks, and corrective actions.
• Lead prioritization and escalation during outages, cybersecurity events, maintenance windows, modernization efforts, and other high‑visibility operational activities.
• Maintain risk registers and lead risk‑management discussions for network availability, modernization schedules, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, staffing, and mission impacts.
• Ensure required documentation, status reports, technical inputs, and Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL) deliverables are accurate, timely, and decision‑ready.

Provide Technical Leadership Without Requiring Hands‑On Engineering

Serve as an informed leader and customer‑facing representative for enterprise network engineering and operations.

Communicate effectively with network engineers, cybersecurity personnel, program management, government stakeholders, and other technical teams.

Understand and oversee work involving enterprise routing, switching, firewalls, virtual private networks (VPNs), load balancing, network access control, unified communications, network monitoring, and secure communications systems.

Ask informed questions, evaluate technical recommendations, identify operational or mission risks, and ensure engineering decisions align with security, availability, scalability, and mission requirements.

Ensure the team's network designs and changes support Zero Trust principles, cybersecurity policy, configuration management, and operational continuity.

Coordinate with engineering leads and subject‑matter experts on major upgrades, migrations, new deployments, and incident recovery efforts.

Partner With Government and Program Leadership

Serve as the primary leadership interface for the network engineering team with government customers, program management, and technical stakeholders.

Provide concise, candid updates on operational postu