Principal Network Engineer III designing, deploying, and managing enterprise data center network infrastructure for defense missions. Ideal for experienced network engineers seeking a hybrid role combining hands-on infrastructure ownership with strategic technology leadership.
Mission
Agile Defense supports the nation's critical defense missions through advanced technology integration. This role directly enables secure, resilient data center operations that strengthen vital national interests.
About this role
About Agile Defense
At Agile Defense we know that action defines the outcome and new challenges require new solutions. That’s why we always look to the future and embrace change with an unmovable spirit and the courage to build for what comes next.
Our vision is to bring adaptive innovation to support our nation's most important missions through the seamless integration of advanced technologies, elite minds, and unparalleled agility—leveraging a foundation of speed, flexibility, and ingenuity to strengthen and protect our nation’s vital interests.
Requisition #: 1945
Job Title: Principal Network Engineer III
Location: Hybrid, four days per week in Pocatello, ID
Clearance Level: Top Secret Clearance Required with SCI Eligibility and ability to obtain and maintain a CI Polygraph
Required Certification(s): Cisco CCNA within six months of starting role
Job Description
The Network Engineer will be responsible for the design, deployment, testing, certification, patching, and troubleshooting of all network features, components, interoperability and application dependencies across data center environments. This includes switches, firewalls, load balancers, software-defined networking, and private cloud infrastructure. This position is onsite in Pocatello, ID, and requires an active Top Secret clearance at the time of application.
We are seeking an Enterprise-level Network Engineer with six or more years of experience. The successful candidate will have or be able to obtain a CCNA, with strong preference for experience in Cisco ACI, NSO, and other advanced Cisco data center technologies.
Responsibilities
- Design, implement, and provide ongoing support for networking infrastructure within and between data centers.
- Serve as an advanced subject matter expert for all data center network environments.
- Create and maintain network infrastructure for both bare‑metal and virtual machines, including LAN, WAN, VLAN, SDN, firewall, and load balancer configurations using OEM and third‑party tools such as NSX.
- Provision and configure required networking for servers, applications, and cloud services.
- Evaluate, improve, and maintain information security across the data center network infrastructure.
- Monitor, diagnose, and correct network issues; develop recovery processes for failures and performance bottlenecks.
- Provide real‑time alerts and implement proactive remediation, including redesigns or technology refreshes.
- Install, configure, test, and maintain system management tools for all network components.
- Ensure the highest levels of network availability, performance, redundancy, and resilience.
- Monitor and test application performance; identify bottlenecks and collaborate with developers on solutions.
- Maintain comprehensive security, backup, and redundancy strategies.
- Develop and maintain automation scripts to improve operational efficiency, including automated provisioning of addresses and VLANs for IaaS.
- Participate in the design of information and operational support systems.
- Provide final tier support for complex network issues.
- Liaise with vendors and IT personnel for troubleshooting, upgrades, and solution design.
- Generate real‑time dashboards and reporting on network performance, availability, trends, and resource utilization.
- Maintain accurate and up‑to‑date technical documentation, including inventory, patch levels, system configurations, access controls, and credentials.
- Continually transition knowledge to government staff through training and best‑practice guidance.
Education and Years of Experience
- Bachelor's degree
- 6 years of relavant experience
- Bachelor’s degree preferred but one year of experience may be substituted for each year of education.
Required Skills
- Active and current Top-Secret clearance required with SCI eligibility and ability to obtain and maintain a CI Polygraph
- Ability to pass and maintain a CI Polygraph during employment
- Cisco CCNA passed withing 6-months of start date
Preferred Skills
- CCNP or DevNet Associate certificate
- Cisco ACI experience
- Multi‑Site Orchestrator (MSO) experience
- Network Assurance Engine (NAE) experience
- Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) experience
- Nexus Insights experience
- Digital Network Architecture Center (DNAC) experience
Required skills
- Data center network design
- Cisco networking
- Firewalls
- Load balancers
- Software-defined networking
- LAN/WAN/VLAN configuration
- Network troubleshooting
- Network security
- Automation scripting