Principal Network SME – Federal Ops (Onsite Contract)

Trace3; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical, dental and view

401(k) Retirement Plan with Employer

Competitive Compensation

Training and development programs

Major offices stocked with snacks andB

Collaborative and cool culture

Work-life balance and generous paid if

Job summary

Trace3, a leading IT solutions provider, seeks a Principal Network Subject Matter Expert to lead enterprise network architecture for a high-priority federal infrastructure program. The role combines strategic direction with hands-on design, escalation leadership, and cross-functional coordination, on-site at customer locations.

You will mentor engineers, define standards, and drive migration plans while ensuring security, resiliency, and performance across data centers, manufacturing, and remote

Qualifications

• 10+ years designing, modernizing, and supporting complex enterprise networks.
• Experience as network architect or senior escalation resource in mission-critical environments.
• Expertise with Cisco routing, switching, firewall, VPN, and data-center tech.
• Advanced knowledge of BGP, OSPF, VLANs, VRFs, QoS, and high-availability design.
• Ability to develop networks architectures, BOMs, migration and test plans.
• Strong security knowledge including secure remote access and Zero Trust.

Responsibilities

• Serve as onsite network technical authority to customer and program leadership.
• Define architecture principles, standards, and roadmaps for mission-critical networks.
• Assess performance, resiliency, security, and inter-site connectivity across environments.
• Develop target-state architectures, migration strategies, and test criteria.
• Lead architecture reviews, risk assessments, and design trade-off discussions.
• Ensure routing, switching, segmentation, and observability meet requirements.
• Act as final escalation point for incidents and drive root-cause analyses.
• Establish documentation and operational standards to improve service performance.
• Communicate decisions and risks to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Coordinate execution across network, security, systems, and DevOps teams.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical oversight on the program.
• Support onsite assessments, migrations, and post-implementation stabilization.

Skills

Network architecture

Technical authority

Enterprise networks

Routing & switching

Security & Zero Trust

Root-cause analysis

Mentoring engineers

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

Trace3, a leading IT solutions provider, seeks a Principal Network Subject Matter Expert to lead enterprise network architecture for a high-priority federal infrastructure program. The role combines strategic direction with hands-on design, escalation leadership, and cross-functional coordination, on-site at customer locations.

You will mentor engineers, define standards, and drive migration plans while ensuring security, resiliency, and performance across data centers, manufacturing, and remote