Principal Network Engineer / Senior Principal Network Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 19, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 1, 2026. Northrop Grumman scores A on the Alion truth index.
Description
At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work - and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.Join Northrop Grumman on our continued mission to push the boundaries of possible across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Enjoy a culture where your voice is valued and start contributing to our team of passionate professionals providing real-life solutions to our world’s biggest challenges. We take pride in creating purposeful work and allowing our employees to grow and achieve their goals every day by Defining Possible. With our competitive pay and comprehensive benefits, we have the right opportunities to fit your life and launch your career today.
At the heart of Defining Possible is our commitment to missions. In rapidly changing global security environments, Northrop Grumman brings informed insights and software-secure technology to enable strategic planning. We’re looking for innovators who can help us keep building on our wide portfolio of secure, affordable, integrated, and multi-domain systems and technologies that fuel those missions.
By joining in our shared mission, we’ll support yours of expanding your personal network and developing skills, whether you are new to the field, or an industry thought leader. At Northrop Grumman, you’ll have the resources, support, and team to do some of the best work of your career.
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is seeking a candidate to join our diverse team of engineers, system administrators, and operators as a Principal Cyber Network Engineer or Senior Principal Cyber Network Engineer professional in Chantilly, VA. The successful candidate will be expected to monitor, maintain, and provide Tier-2 and Tier-3 support of a mission critical network infrastructure, collect data for analysis, perform network upgrades, and be able to produce documentation and diagrams of the work they perform. The work is unique, challenging and rewarding. Most of all, its work that makes a difference.
The successful candidate should thrive in a fast-paced, quick response, work environment with high expectations, diverse assignments, and possess the ability to communicate and collaborate with multiple teams across all technical levels. The candidate must be able to lead the way to maintain and develop creative solutions to complex problems.
Responsibilities:
- Provide Engineering and Administrative support onsite for a team of developers and testers, often deviating from industry standard procedures to meet mission needs but maintaining system security standards.
- Develop, implement, and support solutions for systems that support mission critical and mission essential infrastructure.
- Analyze existing systems & networks and make proactive recommendations to drive change and create efficiencies.
- Creates and maintains clear, accurate network diagrams and topology documentation to support troubleshooting, change management, and cross-team collaboration.
- Collaborate with mission system developers to create and deploy solutions in support of customer mission needs.
- Maintain, evaluate, test, and apply STIG configurations for network devices.
- Respond to security findings and Break Fix events across the infrastructure.
- Create and maintain network documentation including but not limited to Standard Operating Procedures and VISIO diagrams.
Principal Network Engineer Basic Qualifications:
- Must be a US citizen with an Active TS clearance with SCI eligibility, ability to obtain a Poly to be considered.
- 5 Years with Bachelor’s Degree; 3 Years with Masters; 1 year with a PhD; 9 years of experience in lieu of a degree.
- IAT-2 Certification (eg; COMPTIA Security+)
- Experience troubleshooting technical issues based on OSI model.
- Experience making ethernet cables, pulling fiber, racking equipment.
- Firm understanding of Cisco CLI commands
- Firm understanding of Juniper JunOS commands and or firewall concepts
- Experience with Risk Management Framework (RMF) and Authority to Operate (ATO) process
- Experience working in an integrated team environment with other systems, software and specialty engineers to develop solutions.
Senior Principal Network Engineer Basic Qualifications:
- Must be a US citizen with an Active TS clearance with SCI eligibility, ability to obtain a Poly to be considered.
- 8 Years with Bachelor’s degree; 6 Years with Masters; 4 Year with PhD; 12 years of experience in lieu of a degree.
- IAT-2 Certification (eg; COMPTIA Security+)
- Experience troubleshooting technical issues based on OSI model.
- Experience making ethernet cables, pulling fiber, racking equipment.
- Firm understanding of Cisco CLI commands
- Firm understanding of Juniper JunOS commands and or firewall concepts
- Experience with Risk Management Framework (RMF) and Authority to Operate (ATO) process
- Experience working in an integrated team environment with other systems, software and specialty engineers to develop solutions.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Active TS/SCI clearance with current Poly
- Understanding of dynamic routing protocols
- Firm understanding of Juniper JunOS commands and or firewall concepts
- Previous experience troubleshooting network procedures and best practices; experience with network challenges associated with systems integration, including COTS integration, and capacity analysis.
- Experience with Linux and Windows operating systems
- Experience with virtualization technologies (e.g., Red Hat KVM, VMware, libvirt/virsh, Docker, and Kubernetes)
- Previous experience contributing to building ATO packages
- Experience working in Agile and O&M environments.
Northrop Grumman provides a comprehensive benefits package and a work environment which encourages your growth and supports the mutual success of our people and our company. Northrop Grumman benefits give you the flexibility and control to choose the benefits that make the most sense for you and your family. Your benefits will include the following: Health Plan, Savings Plan, Paid Time Off and Additional Benefits including Education Assistance, Training and Development, 9/80 Work Schedule (where available), and much more!
Northrop Grumman has approximately 90,000 employees in all 50 states and in more than 27 countries. We strive to attract and retain the best employees by providing an inclusive work environment wherein employees are receptive to diverse ideas, perspectives, and talents to help solve our toughest customer challenges: to develop and maintain some of the most technically sophisticated products, programs, and services in the world.
Our Values. The women and men of Northrop Grumman Corporation are guided by Our Values. They describe our company as we want it to be. We want our decisions and actions to demonstrate these Values. We believe that putting Our Values into practice creates long-term benefits for shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, and the communities we serve.
Our Responsibility. At Northrop Grumman, we are committed to maintaining the highest of ethical standards, embracing diversity and inclusion, protecting the environment, and striving to be an ideal corporate citizen in the community and in the world.