Network Engineer, Lead - Cisco ISE / Firepower

AMERICAN SYSTEMS, a 100% employee-owned company, is seeking a Lead Network Engineer to support secure network operations in a highly classified environment in Arlington, VA.

We're looking for someone with strong hands-on experience in Cisco ISE, Cisco Firepower, and enterprise network security to make a direct impact on a critical national security mission.

As a Lead Network Engineer at AMERICAN SYSTEMS, you will:

Lead secure network engineering and operational support in a highly classified environment
• Configure, administer, and troubleshoot Cisco ISE for authentication, authorization, accounting, network access control, and policy enforcement
• Administer and optimize Cisco Firepower and Firepower Management Center (FMC), including policy administration, rule management, and troubleshooting
• Design, implement, and maintain secure network infrastructure, including routers, switches, firewalls, VLANs, ACLs, VPNs, and segmented architectures
• Troubleshoot complex Layer 2/Layer 3, firewall, authentication, and access control issues
• Support AAA, 802.1X, VPN, RMF, STIG, and secure configuration requirements
• Develop and maintain network diagrams, implementation plans, SOPs, and technical documentation
• Partner with cybersecurity, systems administration, and mission teams to deliver secure, resilient infrastructure solutions
• Support incident response, outage resolution, root cause analysis, and network remediation efforts
• Recommend improvements to strengthen network performance, security, and reliability

• U.S. citizenship required
• Active TS/SCI clearance required with SAP eligibility
• Bachelor's degree in a related technical field, or additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree
• 8+ years of network engineering experience in enterprise, defense, intelligence, or other highly regulated environments
• Strong experience with Cisco ISE and Cisco Firepower/FMC
• Experience supporting AAA, 802.1X, VPN, RMF, and STIG requirements
• Active DoD 8140/8570 IAT II certification required, e.g., Security+ CE, CySA+, SSCP, or equivalent
• Strong knowledge of Layer 2/Layer 3 networking, routing, switching, VLANs, ACLs, subnetting, and segmentation
• Experience troubleshooting Cisco routers, switches, firewalls, and enterprise networks
• Ability to work independently and solve complex technical problems
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Additional Experience We Value
The following experience may be helpful in this role, but is not required for consideration:

• Experience supporting highly compartmented classified environments
• Cisco certifications such as CCNA, CCNP Enterprise, CCNP Security, or CCIE
• Experience with network modernization, infrastructure upgrades, or technology refresh efforts
• Experience with incident response, change management, and root cause analysis in classified environments
• Experience supporting virtualized environments such as VMware