Tactical Networks & Network Security Engineer

$150,500 - $225,500/Yr

MITRE Corporation - San Diego, CA

Full-time - Mid Level

San Diego, CA

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

At MITRE, we are dedicated to addressing our nation's most pressing challenges while ensuring the well-being of our employees. As a not-for-profit corporation, we operate without commercial conflicts, focusing solely on the public interest. Our R&D centers contribute significantly to various fields, including cybersecurity, healthcare, aviation, defense, and enterprise transformation. We are committed to making a difference every day, striving for a safer, healthier, and more secure nation and world. Our workplace culture reflects our core values, offering competitive benefits, exceptional professional development opportunities, and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, flexibility, collaboration, and career growth. The Tactical Networks & Network Security Engineer position is part of the Communications Network Engineering and Analysis Department within MITRE Labs. This department is tasked with providing premier communications network engineering services across all classification levels. Our engineers are skilled in research, design, analysis, modeling and simulation, lab experimentation, field testing, and implementation of networks in various communication environments, including virtual, wired, and wireless. We aim to expand our support for MITRE's San Diego work program by hiring local staff who can lead and perform communications network engineering research and analysis tasks. Candidates should possess a solid understanding of networking protocols and principles and a desire to deepen their knowledge in this area. The role involves a combination of research, design, analysis, testing, experimentation, and modeling & simulation of communications networks to address complex national problems. Responsibilities may include building lab-based testbeds, modeling network performance in tactical environments, working with cyber and infrastructure automation technologies, researching emerging technologies, and assisting sponsors in modernizing their programs. This position is focused on research, design, and analysis in networking, rather than the administration or maintenance of production networks.

Responsibilities

• Build lab-based testbeds and conduct proof-of-concept experiments.
• Model the performance and behavior of networks in tactical environments.
• Work with cyber and infrastructure automation technologies.
• Research emerging technologies and assess applicability to sponsor missions.
• Assist sponsors in analyzing, modernizing, and advancing their programs.
• Collaborate with fellow network research engineers to leverage expertise for specific projects.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree with 10 years of related experience; or Master's degree with 7 related years; or a PhD with 5 years' experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Demonstrated expertise and leadership in wireless and tactical networks, including 5G.
• Network security and management experience.
• Familiarity with emerging network technologies including cloud networking, SDN, and NFV.
• Proficiency in one or more scripting or programming languages such as C, C++, Java, and Python.
• Strong foundational knowledge of TCP/IP networking fundamentals and OSI stack, including wireless networking and modern network security.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to work well in a collaborative team environment with inter-disciplinary and geographically dispersed teams.
• Willingness to expand into and master network protocol, technology and skill areas with which the candidate may not yet have experience.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret Clearance (U.S. Citizenship required).

Nice-to-haves

• MS or PhD in engineering discipline with 7+ years relevant experience.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills to effectively lead collaboration efforts across multiple organizations and engineering disciplines.
• Proficiency in network configuration and orchestration frameworks such as Ansible, NETCONF, and YANG.
• Experience with modeling and simulation of communications and networking, utilizing tools such as EMANE, OPNET/Riverbed, and Exata.
• Expertise in tactical network architectures, designs, and challenges, including familiarity with Naval or other DoD tactical networks.
• Knowledge of DoD smart routing technologies such as DyNAMO, CaaS, etc.
• Foundational knowledge of network and cyber security, including recent concepts such as Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA).
• Experience with systems engineering processes for networking systems, e.g., requirements development & review, V&V.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package
• Exceptional professional development opportunities
• Culture of innovation that embraces diversity and inclusion
• Flexible work arrangements
• Collaboration opportunities across disciplines
• Career growth opportunities