Leidos currently has an opening for a Network Administrator to support a Department of War customer, onsite, in Fort Meade, Maryland.
POSITION SUMMARY:
This is an opportunity to join an experienced network operations team responsible for maintaining secure, reliable, and highly available infrastructure supporting critical customer systems. The ideal candidate will have solid hands-on experience supporting enterprise network environments and be comfortable troubleshooting network connectivity, switching, routing, firewall, and VPN issues. This role is well suited for a mid-level network professional who can independently handle day-to-day operational responsibilities while continuing to develop deeper network engineering and security skills.
CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS:
- Must be a U.S. Citizen and able to obtain and maintain the required DoW Secret clearance.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Administer, maintain, and troubleshoot enterprise network infrastructure in a secure production environment.
- Support Cisco routing and switching infrastructure, including VLANs, trunking, routing protocols, access controls, and network connectivity.
- Perform configuration changes, software updates, and routine maintenance on network devices in accordance with established change management procedures.
- Support Palo Alto firewalls and Panorama, including policy updates, rule reviews, troubleshooting, and log analysis.
- Monitor network devices, firewall logs, alerts, availability, capacity, and performance to identify and resolve potential issues.
- Support and troubleshoot site-to-site and remote-access VPN connectivity.
- Troubleshoot network incidents involving connectivity, routing, switching, DNS, DHCP, firewall rules, access, and network performance.
- Perform initial analysis of network incidents and escalate complex engineering issues when appropriate.
- Participate in incident and problem management activities, including identifying root causes and documenting corrective actions.
- Work within a hybrid, multi-location operations team supporting existing production environments.
- Coordinate with server, virtualization, cybersecurity, application, and other infrastructure teams to troubleshoot issues spanning multiple technologies.
- Manage incidents, service requests, change requests, and problem tickets through their full lifecycle.
- Perform network health checks and review performance data to identify trends or potential issues.
- Maintain accurate network diagrams, device inventories, configuration documentation, troubleshooting procedures, and knowledge articles.
- Provide clear status updates for incidents, maintenance activities, and ongoing technical issues.
- Assist senior network engineers with network upgrades, migrations, refresh activities, and implementation of new technologies.
- Identify opportunities to improve operational processes, monitoring, automation, and overall network reliability.
- Participate in scheduled maintenance activities and provide after-hours or on-call support as required.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor's degree with 4+ years of relevant network administration/network operations experience; additional relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
- Hands-on experience administering and troubleshooting enterprise Cisco routing and switching environments.
- Working knowledge of TCP/IP, VLANs, subnetting, routing, switching, DNS, DHCP, NAT, ACLs, and VPN technologies.
- Experience troubleshooting network connectivity and performance issues using standard network diagnostic tools.
- Working knowledge of enterprise firewall technologies.
- Hands-on Palo Alto PAN-OS and Panorama experience.
- Experience with GlobalProtect remote access and VPN.
- Understanding of ITIL-based incident, request, problem, and change management processes.
- Ability to document technical procedures, network changes, troubleshooting activities, and incident resolution.
- Ability to communicate effectively with technical teams, management, and customers.
- Ability to work independently on routine operational issues and recognize when escalation to senior engineering staff is required.
- Must possess or be able to obtain the required DoD 8140/IAT Level II baseline certification within 90 days.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor's degree in information technology, Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Cisco CCNA certification and/or Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall Engineer
- CompTIA Security+ CE certification.
- Experience supporting Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewalls and Panorama.
- Experience with Palo Alto security policies, zones, NAT, routing, and threat-prevention profiles.
- Experience with enterprise Cisco Catalyst and/or Nexus switching platforms.
- Experience supporting network infrastructure in DoD or other federal government environments.
- Familiarity with network monitoring and management platforms.
- Familiarity with network automation or scripting technologies such as PowerShell, Python, or Ansible.
- Experience supporting infrastructure within formal change and configuration management processes.
- Active DoD Secret clearance.
If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.
Original Posting:October 14, 2026For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.
The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree with 4 or more years of relevant network administration or network operations experience; additional relevant experience may substitute for the degree.
- U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain the required Department of War Secret clearance.
- Hands-on experience administering and troubleshooting enterprise Cisco routing and switching environments.
- Working knowledge of TCP/IP, VLANs, subnetting, routing, switching, DNS, DHCP, NAT, ACLs, and VPN technologies.
- Experience troubleshooting network connectivity and performance issues using standard network diagnostic tools.
- Working knowledge of enterprise firewall technologies.
- Hands-on Palo Alto PAN-OS and Panorama experience.
- Experience with GlobalProtect remote access and VPN.
- Understanding of ITIL-based incident, request, problem, and change management processes.
- Ability to document technical procedures, network changes, troubleshooting activities, and incident resolution.
- Effective communication with technical teams, management, and customers.
- Ability to work independently on routine operational issues and recognize when escalation is required.
- DoD 8140/IAT Level II baseline certification within 90 days.
- Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, network engineering, or a related technical field.
- Cisco CCNA certification and/or Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall Engineer certification.
- CompTIA Security+ CE certification.
- Experience supporting Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewalls and Panorama.
- Experience with Palo Alto security policies, zones, NAT, routing, and threat-prevention profiles.
- Experience with enterprise Cisco Catalyst and/or Nexus switching platforms.
- Experience supporting network infrastructure in DoD or federal government environments.
- Familiarity with network monitoring and management platforms.
- Familiarity with network automation or scripting using PowerShell, Python, or Ansible.
- Experience supporting infrastructure within formal change and configuration management processes.
- Active DoD Secret clearance.
Leidos Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Leidos and has not been reviewed or approved by Leidos.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as comprehensive, with multiple plan options, low office-visit copays in some plans, and access to mental health and wellness support tools. The availability of HSA/FSA options and employer contributions is positioned as a meaningful part of the total package.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are framed as a strong component of total rewards, highlighted by a 401(k) match and immediate vesting in the standard package. The Employee Stock Purchase Plan is also presented as an additional long-term wealth-building feature.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing and lifestyle supports extend beyond core insurance, including wellness programs, fitness-related stipends, and assistance resources. Work flexibility and related perks are also included as part of the broader rewards experience.
Leidos Insights
What We Do
We Are Leidos For 50 years we have been tackling some of the biggest problems that face our nation and our world. OUR MISSION Through our culture of innovation and history of performance, we develop deep customer trust built on integrity and create enduring solutions that improve our world. Leidos is a science and technology solutions leader working to address some of the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and healthcare markets. The company’s 43,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $11.09 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2020. Leidos was cited for the meaningful work employees perform that is challenging, impactful, and aligned with our customers’ missions as reasons professionals want to work and stay at our company. Leidos has also been named to lists including Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity, Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for Women, Military Times Best for Vets Employers, and Ethisphere Institute’s World's Most Ethical Companies®. Employees enjoy career enrichment opportunities available through mobility and development and experience rewarding relationships with supportive supervisors and talented colleagues and customers. Employees appreciate our flexible work environment, allowing for and encouraging a true work-life balance. Our professionals are also excited about our Employee Resource Groups, like the newly launched Collaborative Outreach with Remote and Embedded Employees (CORE), which strives to create an environment where every employee, regardless of location, feels fully engaged as a valued employee of Leidos. Your most important work is ahead.







