Sr. NSX Engineer

Arena Technical Resources, LLC (ATR); Springfield (VA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Arena Technical Resources, LLC (ATR) seeks a Sr. NSX Engineer to design, implement, operate, secure, and troubleshoot VMware NSX-based network virtualization in a DoD environment. You will own the full NSX lifecycle from architecture to incident resolution, collaborating with network, cybersecurity, and program teams.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years of NSX experience, strong vSphere/VCF integration, and a track record in DoD security processes. Active TS/SCI is required or willingness to obtain.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, CS, Engineering, Cybersecurity or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years hands-on NSX engineering in enterprise environments.
• 5+ years experience with VMware vSphere (ESXi, vCenter, DVS).
• Experience with NSX‑T / VCF networking, firewalling, and security controls in DoD contexts.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and sustain VMware NSX‑T/VCF networking for production and mission environments.
• Manage NSX controllers, transport nodes, and edge clusters; configure NSX Edge as needed.
• Design and administer overlays, Tier‑0/Tier‑1 gateways, and distributed routing.
• Implement microsegmentation and policy-based security controls.
• Develop firewall rules with cybersecurity and RMF teams; ensure least‑privilege.

Skills

NSX design

vSphere

Network security

DoD RMF

Troubleshooting

Education

Bachelor degree (IT/CS/Engineering/Cybersecurity)

Tools

NSX-T

VCF

vCenter/ESXi

NSX Manager/Edge

Job description

Job Title

Sr. NSX Engineer

Job Location

Springfield, VA

Compensation

$160,000 - $180,000

Eligibility/Clearance

Candidate must possess an active TS/SCI clearance and be willing to obtain a CI Polygraph

Job Description

We are seeking a Senior NSX Engineer to design, implement, operate, secure, and troubleshoot VMware NSX-based network virtualization in a mission-critical U.S. Department of Defense environment. The ideal candidate brings at least 5 years of hands‑on VMware NSX engineering experience, strong vSphere/VCF integration knowledge, and a proven record working within DoD security, compliance, and operational processes.

This role is suited to an engineer who can own the full NSX lifecycle—from architecture and deployment through operational support, hardening, automation, upgrades, and incident resolution—while collaborating effectively with network, cybersecurity, systems, storage, and program teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, configure, and sustain VMware NSX‑T / VCF Networking solutions supporting production, development, test, and mission environments.
• Engineer and maintain NSX management, control, and data planes, including NSX Managers, transport nodes, transport node profiles, host and edge transport zones, uplink profiles, N‑VDS or VDS‑backed configurations as applicable, and NSX Edge clusters.
• Design and administer logical networking services, including overlay segments, VLAN‑backed segments, Tier‑0 and Tier‑1 gateways, distributed routing, BGP, static routing, ECMP, north‑south connectivity, and east‑west traffic flows.
• Implement and maintain microsegmentation and zero‑trust‑aligned controls using NSX Distributed Firewall, Gateway Firewall, groups, tags, service insertion, context profiles, and policy‑based security controls.
• Develop and manage firewall rulesets in coordination with cybersecurity, ISSO/ISSM, RMF, application, and network teams; ensure policies follow least‑privilege principles and are documented, reviewed, approved, and auditable.
• Integrate NSX with VMware vCenter Server, vSphere clusters, VMware Cloud Foundation, vSAN, VMware Aria Operations/Logs, identity platforms, PKI/certificate services, SIEM platforms, vulnerability‑management tools, and enterprise monitoring systems.
• Troubleshoot complex issues across virtual and physical networking layers, including routing adjacency failures, BGP peering, MTU mismatches, tunnel endpoint connectivity, Geneve encapsulation, multicast or unicast replication behavior, firewall rule processing, asymmetric routing, packet loss, performance degradation, and Edge‑node failures.
• Perform packet‑level troubleshooting using NSX CLI, nsxcli, ESXi commands, vmkping, pktcap‑uw, tcpdump‑uw, distributed firewall rule analysis, logical‑port inspection, traceflow, flow monitoring, and physical‑switch diagnostics.
• Lead planning and execution for NSX upgrades, patches, certificate replacement, configuration changes, migrations, backup/restore validation, and lifecycle‑management activities while minimizing operational risk and service interruption.
• Develop implementation plans, maintenance‑window procedures, backout plans, test plans, validation checklists, and post‑change documentation for production changes.
• Support migration efforts from legacy NSX‑V, traditional VLAN‑based networks, legacy firewall architectures, or standalone NSX environments into VMware Cloud Foundation and modern NSX‑based architectures.
• Build and maintain standardized NSX configuration baselines, naming conventions, network diagrams, IP address‑management documentation, firewall‑policy matrices, operational runbooks, and as‑built documentation.
• Participate in architecture reviews, design discussions, technical interchange meetings, engineering change reviews, compliance assessments, and operational readiness reviews.
• Provide Tier 3 escalation support for NSX, vSphere networking, distributed firewalling, routing, and virtual network security incidents.
• Mentor junior engineers and administrators; establish repeatable engineering standards and operational procedures for NSX support.

Skills/Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be substituted.
• At least 5 years of hands‑on experience designing, implementing, operating, or supporting VMware NSX in enterprise‑scale environments.
• At least 5 years of experience with VMware vSphere, including ESXi, vCenter Server, vSphere Distributed Switches, virtual networking, cluster operations, host lifecycle management, and troubleshooting.
• Demonstrated expertise with NSX‑T / VMware Cloud Foundation Networking capabilities, including:
  • Overlay and VLAN‑backed segments
  • Tier‑0 and Tier‑1 gateways
  • Distributed routing and centralized services
  • NSX Edge Nodes and Edge clusters
  • BGP, static routing, ECMP, and route redistribution
  • Distributed Firewall and Gateway Firewall
  • Security groups, dynamic membership, tagging, and policy automation
  • North‑south and east‑west traffic design
  • VPN, NAT, load‑balancing, DHCP, DNS forwarding, and other NSX services as applicable
  • NSX Manager clustering, backups, certificates, upgrades, and recovery procedures
• Strong understanding of enterprise networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, ARP, VLANs, VXLAN/Geneve, MTU, routing, BGP, OSPF, VRFs, link aggregation, firewalling, NAT, load balancing, and network troubleshooting.
• Hands‑on experience operating in DoD, federal civilian, intelligence community, or other heavily regulated environments with formal change control, documentation, security approval, and audit requirements.
• Working knowledge of DoD cybersecurity processes and terminology, including RMF, ATO, STIGs, POA&Ms, vulnerability management, DISA guidance, security controls, and continuous monitoring.
• Ability to review, interpret, and remediate applicable DISA STIGs and security findings for VMware components, operating systems, and supporting infrastructure.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to create technical diagrams, implementation plans, security documentation, standard operating procedures, and executive‑ready status updates.

Required certifications

The final certification requirement should align with the contract’s assigned DoD Cyber Workforce Framework role and component‑specific guidance. A practical baseline for this role is:

• Current CompTIA Security+ CE or another approved DoD 8140‑aligned baseline certification appropriate to the assigned work role.
• One current VMware/Broadcom networking, security, or cloud‑foundation certification, such as:
  • VMware Certified Professional – Network Virtualization / VCP‑NV, if held and applicable
  • VMware Certified Professional – VMware Cloud Foundation Administrator
  • VMware Certified Professional – VMware Cloud Foundation Architect
  • Comparable current Broadcom/VMware certification focused on NSX, VCF networking, or network virtualization

Desired:

• 5+ years of enterprise network virtualization, virtual infrastructure, network security, or cloud‑platform engineering experience.
• Experience designing or supporting VMware Cloud Foundation environments, including VCF lifecycle management, SDDC Manager, workload domains, vSphere, and NSX integration.
• Experience integrating NSX with physical enterprise networks, including Cisco Nexus, Juniper, Palo Alto Networks, F5, or similar technologies.
• Familiarity with data‑center architectures such as VXLAN, BGP underlay/overlay routing, multi‑rack design, and high‑availability network services.
• Experience with automation and infrastructure as code using PowerShell/PowerCLI, Ansible, VMware Aria Automation, REST APIs, Git, YAML, and JSON.
• Experience integrating NSX telemetry and logs with Splunk and Elastic.
• Experience with enterprise PKI, certificate lifecycle management, Active Directory, LDAP, identity federation, RBAC, privileged‑access management, and multifactor authentication.
• Experience supporting disconnected, air‑gapped, tactical edge, or classified environments.
• Experience with Dell PowerEdge, Cisco UCS, HPE and storage/network performance troubleshooting.
• Familiarity with DISA STIG Viewer, SCAP scanning, ACAS/Nessus and POA&Ms remediation workflows.

Education

Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or a related field

Equal Opportunity Employment

ATR is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) who will provide equal employment opportunity to employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, color, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family structure, genetic information, or mental or physical disability.