Senior Network Engineer - CBO

Location Washington, DC — hybrid; on-site as required by task assignment
Employment Type Full-time — contingent upon contract award
Salary Range $92,000 – $110,000
Clearance / Suitability Public Trust (Tier
2); U.S. citizenship or permanent residence required

The Senior Network Engineer provides advanced engineering, operational, and advisory leadership for a U.S. legislative branch agency's Cisco-based enterprise network. Serving as a senior technical advisor, the role leads the design and implementation of secure network architectures, drives Zero Trust adoption, and leads security assessments and audits — strengthening the security, reliability, and resilience of the network in alignment with NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-207, and Cisco best practices.

• Design, implement, operate, and optimize secure Cisco network architectures across core, distribution, access, and edge layers for high availability, scalability, and resilience.
• Serve as senior technical advisor to stakeholders, collaborating with cybersecurity, cloud, and operations teams to resolve complex network issues and improve architecture.
• Engineer and enforce Zero Trust principles per NIST SP 800-207 — network segmentation, micro-segmentation, least-privilege and identity-aware access, and 802.1X integration with enterprise identity services.
• Lead or participate in security assessments, audits, and compliance reviews; provide evidence, documentation, and remediation support.
• Implement and manage network monitoring, logging, and alerting, integrating with enterprise SIEM and Network Detection and Response (NDR) tools.
• Establish and maintain a structured vulnerability management and device lifecycle program (patching, firmware, remediation).
• Harden network devices to secure configuration baselines; secure public-facing and perimeter assets (firewall optimization, restricted access, MFA).
• Continuously evaluate and enhance network security posture through emerging best practices, threat intelligence, and Cisco security innovations.
• Ensure all network changes follow formal change control with security impact analysis; perform RCA for incidents.
• Develop and maintain Network SOPs, comprehensive network diagrams, and configuration baselines; administer and troubleshoot enterprise DNS.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or Engineering (Master's preferred; equivalent experience considered).
• Minimum 8–10 years of enterprise network engineering experience, including a senior or lead role.
• Deep expertise in Cisco routing, switching, and network security;
  Zero Trust (NIST SP 800-207); NIST SP 800-53; and 802.1X/NAC (e.g., Cisco ISE).
• Demonstrated ability to advise senior stakeholders and lead security assessments and audits.
• Active Cisco CCNP (CCIE a plus) or equivalent demonstrable expertise;
  CompTIA Security+ or higher.
• S. citizenship or permanent residence status; ability to obtain a Public Trust (Tier
  2) determination.

• CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure or CCIE Security.
• Hands-on experience with Cisco ISE, Trust Sec, and MACsec;
  Catalyst 9300 Stack Wise architectures.
• Experience with next-generation firewalls (Check Point or Palo Alto), NDR, and SIEM (Microsoft Sentinel).
• Experience leading network modernization and Zero Trust implementations in federal environments.
• Prior experience supporting Congressional / legislative branch agencies.

U.S. citizenship or permanent residence status is required. The selected candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust (Tier
2) suitability determination and will undergo an FBI criminal background check and U.S. Capitol Police fingerprinting prior to starting work,…