Principal Network Engineer
00100 LEIDOS, INC. · 0905 Columbia, MD
$139,100–$251,450from the description
Jul 1, 2026
0905 Columbia, MD
Jul 20, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level network engineering role supporting the design, integration, optimization, and ongoing sustainment of complex enterprise and mission networks in DoD/Intelligence Community environments. Day-to-day work spans LAN, CAN, WAN, and telecom infrastructure — covering performance tuning, security implementations such as VPNs and encryption, architecture improvements, and troubleshooting using advanced diagnostic tools. The role suits a highly experienced network engineer holding an active TS/SCI with Polygraph.
Senior level · 15+ years · National · Bachelor's required · TS/SCI clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Senior.
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
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $136,998 (middle half $106,921–$171,899). 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 (10)
The job title is 'Principal Network Engineer' but the actual scope — advanced design, integration, optimization, and sustainment of enterprise/mission networks — is consistent with a Senior-level role on a normal career ladder. The 'Principal' label at Leidos appears to be a grade/pay-band designation rather than an org-wide technical authority role, so seniority is assessed as Senior.
The degree requirement is stated as a choice: Master's + 15 years OR Bachelor's + 17 years. The minimum hard gate is a Bachelor's degree (with more experience), so the degree requirement is set to Bachelors.
Total years minimum is set to 15 (the lower bound of the Master's path); the Bachelor's path requires 17 years.
No specific work location is stated in the posting. On-call support is described as 'primarily remote' but occasional on-site response may be required, so remote is set to false.
The TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance is an explicit hard gate listed under Basic Qualifications.
The DoD 8570.01-M IAT Level I certification is an explicit hard gate listed under Basic Qualifications.
Traffic shaping and IP encryption are mentioned as implementation areas in the responsibilities section rather than a requirements block; they are captured via the broader required networking skills (IPSec, VPN, firewall) rather than as separate skill entries.
The garbled text ('conmd KQW') and the motivational paragraph appear to be artifacts of the posting and carry no extractable requirements.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): DoD 8570 IAT Level I.
Requires a TS/SCI 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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