{"id":2262759,"url":"https://alion.io/job/leidos-principal-network-engineer-routing-switching","title":"Principal Network Engineer - Routing & Switching","company":{"id":7791,"name":"Leidos","domain":"leidos.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/leidos","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"services","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":79,"open_postings":237,"ghost_share":0.004,"stale_share":0.84,"repost_share":0.004,"time_to_fill_p50_days":27,"computed_at":"2026-10-21T05:46:15Z"}},"role":"Networking","role_family":"Networking","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Odenton, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":116350,"max":210325,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":210325},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":12,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"BGP","optional":false},{"name":"Cameo Systems Modeler","optional":false},{"name":"MPLS","optional":false},{"name":"OSPF","optional":false},{"name":"TCP/IP","optional":false},{"name":"VLAN","optional":false},{"name":"VPN","optional":false},{"name":"Ansible","optional":true},{"name":"Confluence","optional":true},{"name":"FedRAMP","optional":true},{"name":"Jira","optional":true},{"name":"Python","optional":true},{"name":"Rest API","optional":true},{"name":"Wi-Fi","optional":true},{"name":"Zero Trust","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-08T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-08","last_verified_at":"2026-10-21T10:32:14Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":13,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":13},"description":"Leidos is seeking a Principal Network Engineer specializing in routing and switching to serve as the senior technical authority for the routed and switched enterprise. The role is responsible for advancing network innovation through the execution of strategic design and implementation efforts that improve the security, scalability, resiliency, and performance of the enterprise network.\nThis position is responsible for overall network engineering support across a broad range of efforts, including planning, designing, and evaluating the various components of the network. Duties include providing specifications for network architecture, evaluating and recommending new technologies to enhance current capabilities, performing needs assessments, and directing the installation, modification, testing, and servicing of network infrastructure.\nThe successful candidate sets technical direction for routing and switching across the enterprise - defining standards, resolving the architecture questions no one else can, and directing the work of other engineers against designs they own.\nScope and Impact\nImpact: Influences development of solutions that impact strategic project and program goals and business results. Recommends and develops new technical solutions, products, and standards. Leads and manages the work of other technical staff that has significant impact on project results and outputs.\nComplexity: Resolves highly complex problems through significant application of technical knowledge, conceptualization, reasoning, and interpretation. Develops solutions that are highly innovative and achieved through research and integration of best practices.\nCommunication: Communicates with executive and client leadership on matters of significant technical importance. Presents architecture recommendations, implementation plans, risks, dependencies, and status to technical leadership, stakeholders, and approval boards, and works to build consensus around new concepts, practices, and approaches.\nKnowledge: In-depth understanding of network engineering principles, theories, and concepts and their application across a range of programs. Serves as a subject matter expert within the routing and switching domain.\nPrimary Responsibilities\nArchitecture and Design Authority\nOwn the enterprise routing and switching architecture, including core, distribution, access, WAN edge, and data center interconnect designs. \nDefine routing architecture and policy standards across BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, and static routing, including addressing strategy, route filtering and summarization, path selection, redistribution boundaries, and convergence targets. \nDefine Layer 2 and high-availability architecture, including VLAN and spanning-tree strategy, link aggregation, redundancy models, VRF and segmentation structure, multicast design, and QoS policy architecture. \nEvaluate the current network architecture, identify gaps and improvement opportunities, estimate level of effort, assess implementation risk, and develop practical engineering plans to improve enterprise capabilities. \nProvide specifications for network architecture, evaluate and recommend emerging technologies, and perform needs assessments to inform design and investment decisions. \nEstablish and enforce configuration standards, design patterns, and technical baselines that other engineers build against. \nProject Execution\nDrive strategic engineering projects from concept through implementation, including architecture evaluation, requirements analysis, dependency identification, design coordination, planning, execution, validation, and transition to operations. \nDevelop and manage implementation plans, schedules, cutover strategies, contingency plans, rollback procedures, validation steps, stakeholder communications, and change documentation for mission-critical network changes. \nLead network modernization efforts such as segmentation, IPv4/IPv6 transition, network optimization, connectivity consolidation, lifecycle replacement, automation, and software-defined networking adoption. \nCoordinate change windows, maintenance activities, test validation, and rollback procedures for high-impact network activities. \nPartner with architecture, cybersecurity, operations, project management, and technical SME teams to resolve blockers, manage dependencies, and reduce delivery risk. \nTechnical Leadership\nServe as the final technical escalation point for complex routing, switching, transport, and performance problems spanning multiple domains and vendors. \nProvide technical direction, mentoring, and day-to-day guidance to network engineers, administrators, and analysts; review designs and implementation work for technical quality. \nOrganize technical priorities, track details across concurrent efforts, manage competing demands, and maintain accountability against aggressive schedules. \nContinuously improve engineering processes, documentation standards, implementation playbooks, migration runbooks, technical standards, and execution models to accelerate delivery, reduce rework, improve operational handoff, and lower sustainment burden. \nDocumentation\nDevelop and maintain engineering and operational documentation, including:\nLogical and physical network designs and architecture diagrams \nRouting architecture, policy standards, and addressing plans \nConfiguration standards, design patterns, and technical baselines \nImplementation and cutover plans with rollback and contingency procedures \nTest and validation plans \nRisk, dependency, and decision registers \nTechnical standards, playbooks, and runbooks \nAs-built and operations transition documentation \nRequired Qualifications\nBachelor's degree or equivalent experience and 12+ years of prior relevant experience, or Master's degree with 10+ years of experience. Specific experience, education, and training may be considered in lieu of a degree. \nExpert-level hands-on experience designing, engineering, and troubleshooting enterprise routing and switching infrastructure in large, complex environments. \nDeep knowledge of TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, route policy and redistribution, VLANs, spanning tree, link aggregation, VRFs, MPLS, multicast, QoS, NAT, and high-availability design. \nExperience evaluating enterprise network architectures and developing improvement plans across LAN, WAN, WLAN, routing, switching, firewalls, VPN, proxies, software-defined networking, and cloud-connected environments. \nExperience leading network engineering projects from planning through implementation, including requirements analysis, dependency management, risk reduction, contingency planning, execution oversight, validation, and operational transition. \nExperience serving as a senior technical lead directing the work of other network engineers, administrators, or analysts. \nHands-on experience with two or more of the following network technologies: Cisco, Aruba, Palo Alto, Dell, Infoblox, and Brocade. \nExperience documenting logical and physical network designs, implementation plans, risks, dependencies, decision points, and technical recommendations using tools such as Visio, PowerPoint, Cameo, or similar. \nExcellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting architecture recommendations, implementation plans, risks, and status to technical leadership, stakeholders, and approval boards. \nCurrent IAT Level II or higher certification, such as Security+ or CISSP. \nActive DoD Secret clearance. \nPreferred Qualifications\nCisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Enterprise, CCIE, or equivalent certification. \nExperience leading enterprise network innovation efforts such as segmentation, enterprise Wi-Fi modernization, IPv6 transition, automation, SDN, cloud connectivity, zero-trust-aligned networking, or security stack modernization. \nExperience with SD-WAN, SD-Access, Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center), or similar controller-based network architectures. \nExperience with network automation and infrastructure-as-code using Python, Ansible, REST APIs, or similar. \nExperience integrating enterprise networking with cloud infrastructure, including hybrid connectivity, cloud routing, and secure interconnects. \nExperience developing repeatable engineering execution frameworks, implementation playbooks, migration runbooks, technical standards, and risk-reduction processes. \nExperience with Jira, Confluence, or other project and knowledge-management tools used to coordinate technical work across distributed engineering teams. \nUnderstanding of Federal Government application, server, and network security requirements such as NIST, FedRAMP, FISMA, RMF, and DoD cybersecurity requirements. \nKey Success Factors\nThis position requires more than a senior engineer executing assigned work. It requires the person who decides what the routing and switching architecture should be, defends that decision in front of leadership and approval boards, and then makes sure it gets built correctly.\nThe successful engineer is equally credible in the deepest technical detail - a BGP path-selection argument, a convergence problem nobody else has reproduced - and in a room where the question is what the enterprise should do next and why.\nIf you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo - because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 - and moving faster than anyone else dares.\nOriginal Posting:\nOctober 8, 2026For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.\nPay Range:\nPay Range $116,350.00 - $210,325.00The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.","description_format":"text","description_chars":10309,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":12,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"master","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["National Security","C4ISR","Defense Manufacturing","Engineering Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-11T05:28:41Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 50 · green card filings: 24","filings_12m":50,"filings_prev_12m":58,"green_card_filings_12m":24,"median_offered_wage_usd":124257,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":53,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.593,"p_room":0.9,"age_days":13,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:1","stale_co","velocity","win:mid","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-21T05:46:15Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":210325,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/leidos-principal-network-engineer-routing-switching","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/leidos-principal-network-engineer-routing-switching.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-21T11:06:46Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":15653,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":7791},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=7791"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fleidos-principal-network-engineer-routing-switching"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fleidos-principal-network-engineer-routing-switching"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fleidos-principal-network-engineer-routing-switching"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/leidos-principal-network-engineer-routing-switching\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fleidos-principal-network-engineer-routing-switching"}]}