Principal/Sr Principal Network Engineer

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

Northrop Grumman Space Systems – Launch and Missile Defense Systems have exciting career opportunity for a Principal Network Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals. This position location is in Huntsville, AL.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide specific detailed information for hardware and software selections, implementation techniques and tools for the most efficient solution to meet business needs, including present and future capacity requirements.
• Conduct testing of network design.
• Maintain technical expertise in all areas of network and computer hardware and software interconnections and interfacing, such as routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, multiplexers, hubs, bridges, gateways, etc.
• Evaluate and report on new communication technologies to enhance capabilities of the network.
• The positions are normally day shift hours, but there will be periods where off hours work will be required.  The Candidate will be required to be part of an on-call rotation.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Network/Communications Engineering or related STEM discipline with 5 years of experience, Master’s Degree with 3 years of experience, or 0 years of experience with a PhD.  4 additional years of experience in lieu bachelor’s degree.
• Experience with IT and Data Center Infrastructure, including planning, designing, and implementing/installing network solutions for Data Centers and/or customer sites.
• Solid understanding of applicable commercial technologies including hardware acceleration, and commercial best practices. Solid understanding of the OSI or TCP/IP model.
  Understanding of common commercial implementations of IP networks; including experience with network routing protocols and tunneling control plane protocols found in IP networks, and out-of-band control networks found in SDH and OTN overhead bytes.
• Experience with Network configuration and troubleshooting, to include routing, access lists, firewalls, sub-netting, CIDR and load balancers. 
• Experience with securing network systems (including commercial IP networks) by establishing and enforcing policies; defining and monitoring access; configuring network equipment to include access lists/firewall rules.  Ability to ensure systems are secure in accordance with customer standards.
• Strong verbal/written communication skills, along with the ability to work well in a government facility within a multi-contractor (badgeless) team environment.  Ability to communicate with and support local as well as remote customers.
• U.S. Citizenship required.
• The ability to obtain and maintain an active Secret clearance.
• Travel 25% Domestic & International

Preferred Qualifications:

• Industry certifications, such as Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Network+, Security+, and/or Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• Experience administering Linux and Windows.
• VMWare or other virtualization experience.
• Experience with Kickstart using Red Hat Linux.
• Ability to design complex network collection systems.
• Experience performing system validation and verification on complex networks.
• Ability to objectively assess architectural limitations or shortcoming in such areas as scaling, speed and throughput.
• Strong interpersonal skills: ability to effectively interact with a variety of stakeholders including factory engineers, management, sub-contractors, trainees and the customer.
• Active a Secret Clearance

Salary Range: $86,300 USD - $129,500 USD

Salary Range 2: $107,000 USD - $160,400 USD

Employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Annual bonuses are designed to reward individual contributions as well as allow employees to share in company results. Employees in Vice President or Director positions may be eligible for Long Term Incentives. In addition, Northrop Grumman provides a variety of benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, Company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business.

The health and safety of our employees and their families is a top priority. The company encourages employees to remain up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations. U.S. Northrop Grumman employees may be required, in the future, to be vaccinated or have an approved disability/medical or religious accommodation, pursuant to future court decisions and/or government action on the currently stayed federal contractor vaccine mandate under Executive Order 14042 https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/contractors/.

Northrop Grumman is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO/AA and Pay Transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for most positions.