R&D Network Engineering Scientist

Hiring department: Applied Research Laboratories

Location: Pickle Research Campus
Full-time (40 hours/week), exempt from FLSA

About the role

Determining requirements, designing, building, testing, and maintaining networks, as well as developing processes to monitor performance, troubleshoot issues, perform backups, and optimize systems within an internetworking UNIX environment. Provide strategic guidance to align network initiatives with organizational goals in the Space and Geophysics Laboratory.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement network architectures that support various workloads including cloud-native, on-prem, and hybrid environments with flexibility for zero-trust, micro-segmentation, or legacy protocol compatibility as needed.
• Troubleshoot multi-layered network issues across on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments including legacy protocols.
• Automate network configuration and provisioning using configuration management tools or scripting tools enabling reproducible, version-controlled infrastructure for reproducibility and scaling.
• Lead incident response for network outages or performance issues while prioritizing uptime availability.
• Other related functions as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Three years developing and maintaining complex networking environments, including multilayer issues in hybrid, multi-cloud, or Cisco-specific topologies.
• Demonstrated strong proficiency with BGP, TCP/IP protocols, and packet header structure.
• Must currently hold, or be able to obtain within the first six months of employment, a DoD 8140 compliant security certification (e.g., Security+).
• U.S. citizen. Applicant selected will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Ten or more years of experience developing and maintaining complex networking environments.
• Experience managing current architectures related to infrastructure in the cloud.
• Demonstrated strong proficiency in UNIX administration.
• Minimum of five years of experience in networking engineering, systems administration, or infrastructure operations.
• Strong proficiency with networking protocols (e.g., OSPF, EIGRP, GRE, VLANs, serial links).
• Cumulative GPA of 3.0.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid basic medical coverage.
• Retirement contributions.
• Paid vacation and sick time.
• Paid holidays.

Pay

Salary range: $104,000–$174,000+/negotiable depending on qualifications.

Working Conditions

• Standard office conditions.
• Repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation.
• Use of manual dexterity.
• Some weekend, evening, and holiday work.
• Possible intrastate/interstate/international travel.

Required Materials

• Resume/CV.
• Three work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor.
• Letter of interest.
• Unofficial college transcript.