Network Infrastructure Engineer at Bowhead
Dahlgren, VA
$80,000–$125,000
Jul 6, 2026
Dahlgren, VA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role centers on keeping a virtualized defense system's infrastructure running — maintaining VMware environments, managing Linux and Windows servers, and automating administrative tasks through scripting. The work involves troubleshooting complex issues, writing process documentation, and understanding how interconnected system components depend on one another. It suits an experienced infrastructure engineer comfortable working independently in a government-contract setting with a Secret clearance.
Mid level · 3+ years · Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
Pay in the description: $80,000–$125,000
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $128,188 (middle half $100,819–$156,589). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is classified as a network/systems infrastructure operations role (15-1244) rather than software development, as the primary duties are operating, maintaining, and troubleshooting a virtualized infrastructure system. However, the scripting/automation emphasis (PowerShell, Ansible, Bash, Python) introduces some overlap with 15-1252 Software Developers.
Total experience is stated as '3-5 years preferred,' making it a soft gate; however, it is the only experience signal in the posting and is treated as the role-level minimum.
CompTIA Security+ CE is listed as 'preferred' in the qualifications section.
AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, and VMware/IaaS certifications all appear under the 'Additional Desired Skills' heading and are preferred accordingly.
The posting notes a typo: 'Kubernete' is interpreted as Kubernetes.
The role is located in Dahlgren, VA, which falls within the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV CBSA.
Requires a Secret clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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