Network Operations Engineer (SME/Technical Advisor), Tucson, AZ - Onsite

U.S. Citizen, U.S. Person, or Immigration Status Requirements: Active and transferable U.S. government issued security clearance is required prior to start date. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.

About the Role

At RTX, the world's largest aerospace and defense company, 185,000 great minds are united by purpose and inspired to make a difference solving the world’s most complex problems. The Classified Infrastructure Services department provides expertise in Data Center Management, Network Operations, and High-Performance Computing that our programs and Engineering teams rely on to fulfill their missions.

Reporting to the Network Operations Associate Director as a Network Operations Principal Networking Engineer (P5), you will serve as the senior technical advisor (Subject Matter Expert/SME) to resolve technical or complex escalations with standard and non-standard solutions and drive network innovation, leading improvement in network performance and reliability. You will provide mentorship and technical guidance to the networking department and collaborate with cross-functional partners and SBU/Program leads to identify inefficiencies and recommend solutions to transform our network operations team to new levels of excellence. This role is primarily onsite supporting our Tucson, AZ campus locations. Travel is required throughout regional areas of responsibility (up to 25%).

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior technical advisor to respond to technical or complex escalations with standard and non-standard solutions within our programs.
• Collaborate with a team of various levels of Network support professionals responsible for secure, reliable, scalable, and supportable network services.
• Identify systemic inefficiencies, deliver measurable performance improvements, and identify opportunities for innovation.
• Provide input to review boards and communicate with parties within and outside of own function.
• Oversee and manage major projects, ensuring all technical designs and network changes are thoroughly reviewed and properly executed.
• Participate in budget planning and the development of operational guidelines.
• Drive the creation of new standard operating procedures and team practices.
• Provide leadership with clear presentations and status updates on key project initiatives.
• Implement new technology innovations across the organization.
• Provide Tier 3/4 escalation support for highly complex classified network issues, leading deep technical troubleshooting across routing, switching, firewalls, segmentation, encryption devices, WAN circuits, and secure communication systems.
• Engineer novel solutions for emerging mission requirements, system integrations, and high-availability architectures.
• Conduct advanced technology evaluations, trade studies, and recommendations for secure networking capabilities.
• Collaborate with Cybersecurity, Systems Engineering, Operations, and external partners to ensure network solutions meet enterprise, mission, and security requirements.
• Interface directly with teams outside your organization to align designs, requirements, and technical implementation across programs.
• Actively participate in major design forums, technical working groups, and engineering review boards, providing senior engineering expertise for proposals and new program captures.
• Develop annual strategic plans and technical vision aligned with functional and program goals.
• Own multi-year network engineering and technology refresh roadmaps that guide lifecycle management and modernization.
• Lead major engineering initiatives across classified environments—including upgrades, redesigns, segmentation enhancements, secure communications improvements, and WAN/transport modernization.
• Drive simplification, resiliency, and modernization across engineering processes and systems.
• Mentor engineers and junior technical staff, developing training plans to strengthen technical capability.
• Refine and create engineering SOPs, processes, and best practices.
• Regularly communicate technical status, major engineering decisions, and strategic updates to executives and senior leadership.

Requirements

• Typically requires a University Degree or equivalent experience and minimum 10 years prior relevant experience, or an Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 7 years' experience.
• Experience as a network engineer for classified, enterprise-class Cisco-based Local and Wide Area Networks (LAN/WAN) with in-depth Layer 2 and Layer 3 experience.
• Experience with boundary protection technologies (preferably Palo Alto).
• Integrate new capabilities including hardware, software, operating systems, and applications leveraging knowledge across all digital domains to speed deployment.
• Certification meeting 8570 IAT Level III or 8140 Advanced for Network Operations Specialist (e.g., CCNP Security, CISSP, or CASP+) and Professional- or Expert-level Cisco certification (e.g., CCNP or CCIE).
• Active and transferable U.S. Government issued Secret security clearance is required prior to start date.
• Experience deploying and operating a variety of Cisco-based technologies (2 or more of the following):
  • Software Defined Networking (SD-WAN (preferred), Catalyst Center/SD-Access, and Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI))
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) for 802.1x and AAA
  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager and/or Cisco Meeting Server

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong communication skills, with ability to influence and drive change with peers and leaders across the organization.
• Experience as an SME or technical advisor in a fast-paced program environment.
• Demonstrated success in managing projects and leading change efforts in a Digital Technology domain.
• Extensive experience with critical infrastructure systems such as Microsoft Active Directory Services (AD, DNS, CS, etc.), Linux configuration and operation, ESXi, and NAS/SAN.
• Experience installing and operating SNMP-based network management tools (e.g., SolarWinds).
• Experience briefing senior leaders on projects.
• Certified RTX CORE Professional or higher.
• Active and transferable U.S. Government issued Top Secret security clearance.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability.
• 401(k) match.
• Flexible spending accounts.
• Flexible work schedules.
• Employee assistance program.
• Employee Scholar Program.
• Parental leave.
• Paid time off and holidays.
• Annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs (dependent on role level and collective-bargaining agreement).

Pay

The salary range for this role is 132,400 USD - 251,600 USD. The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels. RTX considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.

Schedule

This position is classified as onsite. Employees in onsite roles will work primarily onsite. For onsite and hybrid roles, commuting to and from the assigned site is the employee’s personal responsibility.