At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our diverse and talented people who are dedicated to our customers’ mission success. We empower our teams, contribute to our communities, and operate sustainable practices. Our Mission, Vision, and Values guide the way we do business. Our workforce enjoys career enrichment opportunities available through mobility and development, while experiencing rewarding relationships with supportive supervisors and talented colleagues and customers. Your most important work is ahead.
If this sounds like the kind of environment where you can thrive, then keep reading because Leidos is seeking a qualified Principal Network Services Architect to support a proposed large-scale, transformational IT infrastructure program. The successful candidate will serve as the principal technical authority for Task Area 2 (Network Services), setting strategic architecture direction and providing governance for FDA's wired and wireless LAN (Office, Data Center, Lab, and Campus LAN), WAN (Private IP Service and SD-WAN), third-party/cloud connectivity (site-to-site VPN, MAN, Trusted Internet Circuit), unified communications, load balancing, and related network infrastructure. The architect will advise senior customer and program leadership on architecture investments, risks, modernization priorities, and cross-domain technical tradeoffs.
*This position is onsite /hybrid remote. Candidates will need to be located within the DMV area near Bethesda, MD, and Gaithersburg MD.
Key Responsibilities:
- Serve as the principal technical architect and accountable architecture lead for enterprise Data Network and Communication Services, including wired/wireless LAN (Office-LAN, Data Center-LAN, Lab-LAN, Campus-LAN, Cloud Networks), WAN (Private IP Service and Managed SD-WAN), and third-party/cloud connectivity (site-to-site VPN, MAN connectivity, Trusted Internet Circuit).
- Lead network design and engineering activities supporting enhancements, increments, and modifications to the existing environment; oversee release management, testing, and deployment activities for host servers and virtual clients during operational upgrades.
- Architect and continuously optimize connectivity, routing, and security between FDA's on-premise data centers (White Oak, Ashburn, NCTR) and FDA's AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform landing zones, in direct support of FDA's hybrid multi-cloud migration strategy.
- Define and govern a multi-year strategic roadmap for network modernization and technology refresh, ensuring network and communications solution components (hardware and software) are upgraded per agreed FDA technology-refresh policy and appropriately licensed.
- Provide senior technical oversight of network operations and administrative services, including monitoring, testing, patching, debugging, repair, and replacement of network appliances and software, and management of session border controllers (SBCs) and isolated lab networks.
- Direct capacity management for FDA's network infrastructure to ensure IT resources are right-sized for current and future business requirements while addressing time-sensitive demands.
- Architect load balancing, domain services (DHCP, external DNS), and monitoring solutions across voice, data, and VPN environments to deliver high availability and optimized network performance for applications and end users.
- Lead modification of network, storage, database, and related infrastructure policies, configurations, and provisions to reflect evolving industry standards and internal FDA policy changes, driving operational efficiency.
- Provide architectural and engineering support for Unified Communications, load balancing, eFax, and Enterprise Network Time Protocol (NTP) services.
- Direct network monitoring and reporting using agreed-upon tools (e.g., SolarWinds, Cisco DNA Center, Cacti) to ensure continuous availability, connectivity, security, and reliability across on-premise and cloud network, data center, compute, and storage resources.
- Lead root-cause and continuous-improvement (CI) efforts on existing network infrastructure, platforms, and processes to maintain relevance, efficiency, and performance as FDA's environment evolves.
- Maintain accurate architectural documentation, current-state/target-state network diagrams, and an accurate inventory of on-premise data center spaces housing network equipment.
- Support annual and ad-hoc network audits to ensure compliance with FDA standards, and support Government data calls related to network technical attributes and financial/hardware details.
- Coordinate with telecommunications contractors, cloud service providers, and other Task Area leads (e.g., Data Center Operations, Cloud & Compute/Storage, Client Advocate/Technical Leads) to ensure integrated, end-to-end service delivery.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to senior network architects, engineering leads, Network Engineers, Administrators, and other Task Area 2 staff; support incident, problem, and service-request management in collaboration with the Help Desk.
- Support the Transition Manager and Program Manager during the three-phase transition (Transition Planning, Transition, Cutover to Managed Services) by validating the as-is network architecture, informing the technical transition plan, and de-risking network cutover activities.
Strategic Architecture Leadership and Technical Governance:
- Serve as the principal network architecture authority for Task Area 2, accountable for integrated target-state architecture, architectural integrity, and alignment with FDA mission, security, operational, and modernization priorities.
- Develop and maintain a multi-year enterprise network and communications strategy, including investment sequencing, technical debt reduction, platform consolidation, technology refresh, automation, and hybrid multi-cloud connectivity modernization.
- Lead cross-domain architecture governance and technical design reviews; establish reference architectures, standards, and decision records, and recommend approval of design exceptions through authorized FDA and program governance channels.
- Advise senior FDA and program technology leadership on network architecture alternatives, emerging technologies, resilience, cyber risk, and investment tradeoffs; deliver executive-level architecture briefings and recommendations.
- Provide architectural leadership across network, cloud, compute/storage, cybersecurity, unified communications, and data center service boundaries; resolve complex integration dependencies and conflicting design priorities.
- Define measurable architecture outcomes for network availability, performance, capacity, resiliency, security, automation, lifecycle health, and total cost of ownership; guide optimization initiatives and report progress to leadership.
- Lead architecture risk assessments for mission-critical connectivity and transformation initiatives, including migration sequencing, disaster recovery dependencies, design tradeoffs, and risk mitigation recommendations.
- Establish consistent architectural practices and develop other senior technical leaders through design reviews, mentoring, and technical guidance; retain hands-on engagement in the most complex engineering decisions.
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree and 12+ years of progressive network engineering/architecture experience, including responsibility for enterprise-scale architecture and modernization. Additional years of experience may be considered in lieu of a degree; final requirements subject to Leidos HR leveling validation.
- 7+ years in senior/principal architect or technical leadership roles on large enterprise-scale federal or commercial network environments, with demonstrated ownership of strategic architecture decisions.
- Demonstrated hands-on architecture experience across LAN (wired/wireless), WAN (Private IP Service, SD-WAN), and third-party/cloud connectivity (site-to-site VPN, MAN, Trusted Internet Circuit) in a multi-site enterprise environment.
- Strong working knowledge of connecting and securing on-premise data center networks to public Cloud Service Providers (AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform).
- Experience with network monitoring and management tooling (e.g., SolarWinds, Cisco DNA Center/DNAC, Cacti, or equivalent) and with capacity planning for enterprise network infrastructure.
- Demonstrated experience managing multi-site enterprise network environments, including load balancing, DHCP, DNS, unified communications, and network security policy configuration.
- Experience supporting large-scale IT infrastructure technology refresh, upgrade, and lifecycle management activities.
- Strong documentation skills, including development of current-state and target-state network architecture diagrams.
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to coordinate across cross-functional technical teams, subcontractors, and telecommunications vendors.
- U.S. Citizenship.
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust.
- Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), current and active - or equivalent senior-level network architecture certification.
- Demonstrated experience serving as a principal architect, enterprise network architect, or senior technical authority for a large-scale federal or commercial infrastructure program, with accountability for integrated technical strategy and architectural governance.
- Demonstrated experience developing multi-year network modernization roadmaps, leading cross-functional architecture reviews, and making risk-informed technology investment recommendations.
- Experience presenting technical strategy, architecture tradeoffs, and measurable performance or cost outcomes to senior government or executive stakeholders.
- Ability to lead architecture across network, cloud, cybersecurity, compute/storage, and communications interfaces without requiring direct line-management authority.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE).
- AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform networking-focused certification (e.g., AWS Advanced Networking – Specialty, Azure Network Engineer Associate).
- ITIL Foundation certification (or higher).
- Prior experience directly supporting FDA, another HHS operating division, or a comparable federal health/regulatory science agency.
- Experience with SD-WAN network automation platforms and Zero Trust network architecture concepts.
- Familiarity with ServiceNow or comparable enterprise ITSM platforms for change and incident management.
- Experience supporting isolated lab or scientific-computing network environments.
- Experience chairing enterprise architecture boards, leading major network transformation programs, or establishing network architecture governance for federal mission environments
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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:
November 13, 2026 For 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.
Pay Range:
Pay Range - 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.
