Mid - System Engineer (w/ active Secret)

Mid- System Engineer (w/ active Secret)

Location: Pearl Harbor, HI (Alternate Locations: Whidbey Island or Norfolk, VA)
Clearance: Secret
Type: Full-time, On-site
Schedule: Wednesday - Sunday
Salary Range: Pearl Harbor $99,000 - $128,000. Salary range may vary depending on location.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Critical Solutions is seeking an experienced Systems Engineer Mid to support a large-scale, geographically dispersed enterprise network environment. The ideal candidate will bring strong expertise across LAN/WAN/WLAN, network boundary engineering, routing, switching, network security, and Tier III troubleshooting.

This position will serve as a technical resource and escalation point for complex network issues while supporting engineering, configuration management, change management, lab validation, and future enterprise network solutions.

PRIMARY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead efforts to identify, troubleshoot, analyze, and resolve complex network issues in a dynamic enterprise environment.
• Configure, maintain, and troubleshoot network infrastructure, including switches, routers, VLANs, wireless access points (APs), firewalls, and network sensors.
• Provide engineering expertise and operational support for one of the world's largest intranet environments.
• Serve as a Tier III escalation resource for complex incidents, including coordinating with vendors as necessary for incident resolution.
• Serve as an SME and technical backstop for troubleshooting efforts involving multiple network disciplines and teams of CCNP/CCIE-level engineers.
• Apply extensive knowledge of defense-in-depth principles to secure enterprise network infrastructure.
• Troubleshoot technologies and protocols including routing, switching, SD-WAN, WLAN, MPLS, VPNs, OSPF, BGP, EIGRP, switching protocols, and multicast.
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering and operations teams to enhance network availability, performance, reliability, and security.
• Develop and maintain Engineering Implementation Plans (EIPs) supporting network changes and deployments.
• Create and manage change management tickets for deployments, maintenance activities, upgrades, and other network changes.
• Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in support of problem management activities and recurring incident resolution.
• Participate in engineering, architecture, and project meetings to design and develop future enterprise network solutions.
• Track engineering and operational work within an Agile/SAFe framework using JIRA.
• Participate in Daily Stand-Ups (DSUs), retrospectives, Program Increment (PI) activities, and other Agile ceremonies.
• Develop and deliver detailed demonstrations and technical updates supporting Program Increment objectives.
• Configuration Management Responsibilities
• Configuration Baseline Management
• Maintain version-controlled configuration baselines for network infrastructure devices, including routers, switches, firewalls, and sensors.
• Maintain accurate records of startup and running configurations, firmware versions, security policies, and associated network configuration data.
• Ensure configuration changes are properly documented, peer-reviewed, approved, and backed up to a centralized repository.
• Maintain change-tracking and rollback capabilities to support operational resilience and configuration recovery.
• Ensure network configurations remain compliant with applicable DISA Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) and organizational cybersecurity policies.
• Lab Testing & Pre-Production Validation
• Conduct pre-production validation testing for firmware upgrades, configuration changes, and security patches before deployment to production networks.
• Perform testing within an isolated lab environment designed to mirror applicable production network topology and configurations.
• Validate network functionality, security policies and controls, device interoperability, performance against established baselines, and deployment/rollback procedures.
• Document testing results, identified risks, remediation requirements, and deployment recommendations prior to production implementation.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree with 8–12 years of relevant professional experience; or Master's degree with 6–10 years of relevant professional experience.Equivalent education and experience substitutions may be considered at the Hiring Manager's discretion.
• Active Secret security clearance required. Must be Top Secret eligible.
• DoD 8570.01 IAT Level III certification, such as CASP+, CISSP, CCNP Security, or another qualifying certification.
• A recognized network vendor certification, such as Cisco CCNA, CCNP, or CCIE.
• Subject Matter Expertise in BAN/LAN/WAN/WLAN and Network Boundary engineering.
• Extensive experience performing highly technical network maintenance, configuration, troubleshooting, and engineering activities.
• Experience providing Tier III escalation support in large-scale enterprise environments.
• Experience supporting networks of comparable scale to 16,000+ devices across 450+ geographically dispersed locations.
• Demonstrated ability to serve as an SME and escalation backstop for troubleshooting across multiple network disciplines.
• Extensive hands-on troubleshooting experience with routing, switching, SD-WAN, WLAN, MPLS, VPNs, OSPF, BGP, EIGRP, switching protocols, and multicast.
• Experience with SAFe Agile methodologies and JIRA.
• Strong understanding of network security and defense-in-depth principles.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts effectively to engineering teams, program leadership, customers, and other stakeholders.
• Operational Requirements
• Willingness and ability to participate in an on-call rotation.
• Ability to perform scheduled and unscheduled work during off-hours, including maintenance windows, when required.
• Ability to travel up to 10%.

CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT:

• DoD 8570.01 IAT Level III certification, such as CASP+, CISSP, CCNP Security, or another qualifying certification.
• A recognized network vendor certification, such as Cisco CCNA, CCNP, or CCIE.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Previous experience supporting the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) network.
• Previous experience supporting Department of Defense (DoD) programs and environments.
• Experience with network automation and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) technologies and practices.
• Hands-on experience with automation technologies such as Ansible and Python.
• Experience with Arista networking technologies.
• Advanced Cisco networking certifications, including CCNP or CCIE, are highly desirable.

LOCATION:

• Onsite
• Pearl Harbor, HI (Alternate Locations: Whidbey Island or Norfolk, VA)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

CLEARANCE REQUIREMENT: Must possess an active DoD Secret Clearance. In addition, selected candidate must undergo background investigation (BI) and finger printing by the federal agency and successfully pass the preceding to qualify for the position. US CITIZENSHIP IS REQUIRED.

CRITICAL SOLUTIONS PAY AND BENEFITS:

Salary range $99,000 - $128,000. Salary range may vary depending on location. The salary range for this position represent the typical salary range for this job level and this does not guarantee a specific salary. Compensation is based upon multiple factors such as responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, certifications, and other requirements.

BENEFIT SNAPSHOT: 100% premium coverage for Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance, Supplemental Insurance, 401K matching, Flexible Time Off (PTO/Holidays), Higher Education/Training Reimbursement, and more.