Sr. Network Engineer, AI Infrastructure (Starshield)
Palo Alto · Hawthorne · Palo Alto - 1200 · Redmond, WA · Washington, DC · USD 165,000-265,000 · 5+ years experience · Posted Sep 22, 2026
At a glance
- Experience
- 5+ years experience
- Location
- Palo Alto · Hawthorne · Palo Alto - 1200 · Redmond, WA · Washington, DC
- Salary
- USD 165,000-265,000 · Base salary
About the role
- As a Network Engineer you will drive the operation, build and deployment of the Starshield data center network, which supports critical national security missions.
- You and your teammates will own the network design and be responsible for proposing and implementing continual improvements to add more capabilities and customers.
Responsibilities
- Manage network infrastructure and deployments to Top Secret data centers
- Design, validate, and productize high-speed copper and optical connectivity solutions for AI clusters (100k+ GPU scale)
- Collaborate with ML training teams to translate workload communication patterns into concrete interconnect topology and optical reconfigurability requirements
- Contribute to various tools for rapid deployments (ZTP/custom provisioning tools)
- Improve network performance and reliability based upon system performance metrics, including capacity planning, failure detection and remediation
- Assist in capacity augmentation and network optimization deployments
- Lead network integration and troubleshooting efforts
- Collaborate with hardware, software, and network engineers to improve the Starshield network design
- Build automation for network devices, operational and deployment tools
- Mentor and train junior network engineers
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in a technical or engineering discipline AND 5+ years of professional networking experience deploying enterprise network solutions or cloud and web-scale networks; OR 7+ years of professional networking experience deploying enterprise network solutions or cloud and web-scale networks in lieu of a degree
- 5+ years of networking experience deploying enterprise network solutions and/or cloud and GPU networks
- Layer-1 experience (e.g., transport, DWDM, optical fiber, circuit troubleshooting, activations, etc.)
- Hands-on experience with the deployment of networking hardware (routers, modems, switch, firewalls, etc.)
- Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
Preferred qualifications
- Master’s degree in a technical or engineering discipline
- Experience with physical troubleshooting of fiber
- Deep understanding of datacenter networks including Connectivity (Ethernet, IPv4, IPv6 and MPLS), Routing (BGP, OSPF, VXLAN), Switching and routing, InfiniBand/NVLink, NVIDIA GPU deployment stacks (Blackwell/Rubin)
- Experience implementing network security functions
- Cisco, Juniper, Arista or other industry certification
- Ability to work independently and in a team, take initiative, and communicate effectively
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret or Top Secret SCI clearance
Benefits
- Long-term incentives in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards
- Potential discretionary bonuses
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Short and long-term disability insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- 3 weeks of paid vacation
- 10 or more paid holidays per year
Workplace
- Must be willing to travel domestically and globally in the future when needed.
Skills
- DWDM
- Ethernet
- IPv4
- IPv6
- MPLS
- BGP
- OSPF
- VXLAN
- InfiniBand
- NVLink
- Cisco
- Juniper
Show all 13 skills
- Arista
