Optical Transport Engineer

Job ID 2614407

Location Chantilly, VA, US

Date Posted 2026-07-24

Category Engineering and Sciences

Subcategory Systems Engineer

Schedule Full-Time

Shift Day Job

Travel Yes - 10% of the time

Minimum Clearance Required TS.SCI_wPoly

Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain None

Potential for Remote Work ORA_ON_SITE

Description SAIC has an immediate opening for a Long-Haul Network Engineer with a background in Information Technology (IT) Network Engineering and Project Management to oversee the cost, schedule, and performance activities associated with procurement of Commercial Carrier long-haul circuits. The successful applicant will participate within a team of Systems Engineers and Technical Advisors (SETAs) overseeing the design, delivery, enhancement, and recapitalization of a large-scale, physical layer infrastructure. Ability to travel is a requirement of this position.

Description Of Duties The successful candidate must be able to

• Demonstrate a working level knowledge of high-speed, high-capacity optical communications systems and equipment
• Demonstrate a working level knowledge of high-speed switching layer (SONET, Carrier Ethernet) technologies and architectures
• Demonstrate a working level knowledge of installation and integration of fiber optic telecommunications systems
• Demonstrate the ability to perform requirements analysis, schedule reviews, and cost estimations
• Demonstrate the ability to conduct risk assessments and analysis of current and proposed architectures
• Develop circuit specifications, test methodologies, and exercise testing techniques to verify that circuits meet all required specifications
• Provide engineering for optical circuit design, integration, testing, and troubleshooting efforts
• Perform technical evaluation of vendor documentation, including network designs and technical details
• Review daily assessment reports of network health and performance, and provide technical guidance to operations personnel and vendors as necessary to resolve network performance issues
• Independently interact with network and transport services providers to resolve network anomalies and performance issues
• Serve as Transport Services site liaison for various locations
• Update the configuration management database for the customer's transport network
• Successfully work independently, as well as within team dynamics

Qualifications EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelors and nine (9) years or more experience; Masters and seven (7) years or more experience ; PhD or JD and four (4) years or more experience. Work experience in the areas detailed in the Description of Duties of more than eleven (11) years in lieu of a degree may be considered
• 10-years’ experience with high-speed Terrestrial Telecommunications systems
• PMP certification is a plus, but not required
• ITIL certification is a plus, but not required
• Active Top Secret (TS) / Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance with current poly

Target salary range $120,001 - $160,000. The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors.