Wide Area Network Engineer Lead

Job Description Job Description: WE ARE THE NRO For sixty years, the NRO has developed, acquired, launched and operated the satellites that are the foundation for America's advantage and strength in space. Using a diversified architecture of spacecraft, NRO collects and delivers the best space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance content on the planet. Learn more at NRO.gov. Basic Eligibility For A Position With The NRO You must be a U.S. Citizen You must be able to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI security clearance You will be subject to pre-employment and periodic drug testing You will be subject to pre-employment and periodic polygraph examinations Where You Will Work The NRO Communications Directorate (COMM) is charged with looking across the NRO's multi-billion-dollar global enterprise to develop and execute fully integrated IT solutions. As the NRO's Long Haul and Campus Area Network (CAN)/Local Area Network (LAN) service provider, the Network Services Group (NSG) provides communications services, include engineering, deployment, installation, test, sustainment, and operations for one of the world's largest network, enabling intelligence operations to over 70,000 users at 1000+ NRO, Department of War (DoW) and mission partner locations The NRO Cadre is collecting resumes for consideration against current and future opportunities for Non-Supervisor, Wide Area Network Engineer Lead, GGS-12-13, occupational series 2210. More information on the occupational series can be viewed on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website. This is a full-time position that is open from 2026-10-13 to 2026-10-27. Resumes must be submitted by 11:59 PM EST on 2026-10-27. Who May Apply This position is open to the public. Federal government employees MUST currently be at the grade level or higher as indicated in this announcement. This is NOT a promotion opportunity for current Federal government employees. If selected for the position, Federal government employees will transition laterally at their current grade level and step. Federal applicants who exceed the advertised grade may voluntarily request acceptance at the lower grade per IAW DoW 1400.25 Volume 2006. The NRO is only accepting external applicants for this job announcement. Current NRO Cadre employees should apply internally. This position MAY qualify for the appointment of a reemployed federal annuitant IAW DoWI 1400.25 Volume 300. What You Will Be Doing The Network Services Group (NSG) within NRO/COMM is a distributed group comprised of civilian, military, and contractor employees responsible for the design, development, operations and maintenance of the NRO's network infrastructure which provides service across the NRO, CIA, IC, DoW and US Mission Partners. This position serves as the Wide Area Network (WAN) Project Manager. The WAN Project Manager is responsible for leading the planning, execution, and delivery of complex network infrastructure projects supporting the design, implementation, security accreditation and transition to operations of the Network Services Group's mission and enterprise WAN IT systems and assets. The WAN Project Manager is responsible for the oversight of a contractor support team leading network WAN solutions for new customer requested items across the NRO, IC mission partners, ODNI and DoW. This is a tremendous opportunity to work at the NRO enterprise level working across all NRO, DOW & the IC to address the unique needs of a broad and diverse mission. The WAN Project Manager is responsible for project lifecycle management including scope definition, resource allocation, schedule management, risk mitigation, and stakeholder coordination. This individual will integrate bandwidth requirements, track End of Life (EOL) for WAN network hardware/software, and manage the implementation of new enterprise network capabilities including cloud connectivity, virtualized services, and hybrid infrastructure solutions. Major Duties: Project Management & Program Execution: Lead end-to-end program management and systems engineering of Wide Area Network requirements for deploying connectivity between space intelligence collection downline locations and processing/dissemination locations for the NRO, Department of War (DoW) and Intelligence Community (IC). Develop project charters, work breakdown structures, integrated master schedules, and resource-loaded plans. Apply program management principles to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery of network capabilities. Stakeholder Engagement & Requirements Coordination: Facilitate technical exchange meetings and requirements workshops with internal and external partners and stakeholders to include other directorates and offices across the NRO, IC mission partners, foreign mission partners, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and DoW. Coordinate translating mission requirements into technical specifications for network connectivity, cloud integration, and enterprise services supporting current and future missions network connectivity requirements for current and future missions. Budget & Schedule Management: In coordination with the Program COTR, build and manage the budget and master schedule, create and manage risks, issues and opportunities and manage capability roadmaps. Provide regular program status reporting to leadership including earned value management metrics, variance analysis, and forecast-to-complete projections. Oversees the performance of a contractor team that provide program management, engineering and implementation for enterprise and mission network solutions. Technology Integration & Modernization: Maintain current and detailed knowledge of advanced IT industry best practices, R&D programs throughout the agency, and commercial standards developments with regards to WAN technologies, cloud architectures (AWS, Azure, hybrid cloud), software-defined networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), and enterprise services. Identify opportunities to improve enterprise-level systems to support mission, business and enterprise processes utilizing emerging technologies including zero-trust architectures, secure access service edge (SASE), and multi-cloud networking. Systems Engineering & Technical Oversight: Provide technical direction for network design activities including topology planning, capacity modeling, redundancy/resiliency design, and security architecture. Ensure integration of cloud connectivity solutions, server infrastructure, virtualization platforms, and enterprise services (DNS, DHCP, NTP, authentication services) into the WAN environment. Coordinate security accreditation activities and transition-to-operations planning. What You Will Need All applicants must submit written statements (narrative format) of accomplishments that would satisfy the technical qualifications. You must address each technical qualification separately. You are required to respond to all of the technical qualifications. If you fail to do so, you will be rated as ineligible. Please limit your written statements to no more than two pages per technical qualification. Project Management Expertise: Demonstrated experience applying project management methodologies (PMI, Agile, or hybrid approaches) to successfully deliver complex IT infrastructure projects. Knowledge of project management principles including scope management, schedule development, resource management, risk management, stakeholder management, and earned value management. Experience developing project plans, managing budgets, tracking milestones, and reporting program status to senior leadership. Networking Technologies & Protocols: Demonstrated expertise in LAN/WAN technologies and protocols including TCP/IP, routing protocols (EIGRP, BGP, OSPF), MPLS, VPN technologies, IPSEC, GRE, SD-WAN, VoIP, H.323, SSL/TLS, and Type 1 Encryption. Familiarity with Satellite Communications (SATCOM) systems and transport technologies. Understanding of network design principles including segmentation, quality of service (QoS), traffic engineering, and high availability architectures. Cloud & Hybrid Infrastructure: Knowledge of cloud networking architectures and services across major cloud service providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) including virtual private clouds (VPC), cloud interconnects, direct connect/express route, cloud VPN, transit gateways, and cloud-native networking services. Experience integrating on-premises WAN infrastructure with cloud environments in hybrid and multi-cloud architectures. Understanding of cloud security controls, identity and access management (IAM), and cloud network monitoring. Systems Engineering & Technical Leadership: Relevant experience in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems or a closely related discipline. Ability to apply systems engineering principles and practices including requirements analysis, functional decomposition, interface management, configuration management, and verification & validation. Experience providing technical leadership to engineering teams and making architectural decisions for complex systems Communication & Collaboration: Excellent written and oral communication skills to effectively engage with technical and non-technical audiences. Ability to forge relationships across diverse customer base including mission partners, senior leadership, and contractor teams. Experience facilitating working groups, presenting technical briefings, documenting decisions, and negotiating solutions across organizational boundaries. Qualifying experience may have been acquired in any public or private sector job, but will clearly demonstrate past experience in the application of the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to successfully perform and is typically in or directly related to the duties of the position as described above . click apply for full job details