Principal Network Engineer
$160k - $210k+ Annual bonuses + $100/month cell phone reimbursement + 401(k) employer match
Expert
Bachelor's, Master's
San Diego, CA, USA
In PersonOn-site in San Diego; travel to Pax River and other customer sites is required.
IT OperationsNetwork Engineering & Administration
About the job
Requirements
- A bachelor's or master's degree in Engineering, Software, Computer Science, Information Science, Systems, or a closely related discipline is required.
- An active Secret clearance is required.
- Understanding of networking fundamentals, including VLANs, subnets, protocols, and standards.
- Demonstrated experience with Linux operating systems.
- Experience with Linux system administration, firewalls, and settings.
- Experience with virtualized systems applications and administration, including VMware, ESXi, and KVM.
- Familiarity with broadband line-of-sight radio data links.
- Familiarity with broadband satellite data service and delay-tolerant networks.
- Familiarity with networking protocol stacks.
- Familiarity with NSA Type 1 encryption, especially high-assurance IP encryption (HAIPE) devices.
- Working knowledge or experience with military networking systems and/or tactical data links.
- Experience with US Navy communications networks such as ADNS, ISNS, and CANES.
- Knowledge of Navy Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Information Systems (C4IR).
- Willingness to travel to Pax River and other customer sites.
Responsibilities
- Develop and provide input for network architectures for the company's systems and customers.
- Translate user and system requirements into system functionalities and implementation.
- Develop and implement network security architectures using HAIPE, IPsec, TLS, and other protocols.
- Set up and troubleshoot WAN, LAN, WLAN, and VoIP networks.
- Support design, development, and test efforts for airborne tactical networking systems.
- Implement dynamic routing protocols, including OSPF, EIGRP, RIP, BGP, PPPoE, and MANET.
- Implement information assurance controls and ensure compliance with the DoD Risk Management Framework.
- Collaborate throughout the design process, supporting sprint planning sessions, code reviews, and scrums.
- Engage real-world operators to understand end-user needs and requirements.
- Provide enterprise-level engineering oversight for multi-million-dollar programs, enforcing technical baselines, maintaining risk registers, and communicating status to executives and mission partners.
- Partner with project managers and chief engineers to apply the company's Warfighter Engineering & Design Process and support on-schedule, on-spec delivery.
- Translate forward-looking concepts into modular reference architectures that enable future capability inserts and rapid refresh cycles.
- Promote emerging technology adoption, including AI-enabled network orchestration, SOSA-aligned hardware, and zero-trust enclaves, by codifying best practices and coaching scrum teams through complex edge cases.
- Align customer pain points with independent research and development funding, prioritizing prototypes that address validated gaps and improve return on investment.
- Track regulatory changes, MIL-STD updates, and competitor developments to recalibrate technology roadmaps.
- Co-author cross-functional product roadmaps with Technology, Growth & Strategy, and Operations, ensuring campaigns have a technology glide-slope and clear value proposition.
- Represent the technical perspective in executive reviews, translating complex trade-space decisions into business-centered narratives.
- Solicit and integrate feedback from operators, customers, and internal groups to keep initiatives mission-relevant and revenue-aligned.
- Conduct market research and competitive analysis to inform strategic decisions and identify growth opportunities.
- Support the identification and qualification of new opportunities by using intelligence on platform roadmaps, SWaP-C trends, and coalition needs to seed the funnel.
- Build strategic alliances across DoD PEOs, prime integrators, and niche innovators to position the company in edge networking.
Desired Qualifications
- Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Routing & Switching or CCNA Security.
- Five or more years of experience as a network engineer.
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
- Experience with or development of networking for container-based applications.
- Experience with EMANE, GNS3, EXata, or other modeling environments.
- Network Operating Systems Certificate.
- CompTIA Security+.
- Knowledge of Cisco or Juniper wireless controllers and wireless access points, including the ability to deploy and configure them.
- Ten or more years leading complex engineering efforts, including five or more years in the aerospace and defense sector.
- Experience translating strategy into fielded capability, including defining requirements, balancing budgets, and managing risks.
- Hands-on leadership of full-lifecycle design, integration, test, and deployment for program-of-record-level systems.
- Ability to translate engineering details into executive-ready narratives and demonstrations.
- Ability to cultivate program-office and industry partnerships that enable new roadmaps.
- Ability to foster psychological safety and maintain team performance in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to manage competing priorities, work through ambiguity, and deliver under pressure.
About the company
Fuse Integration builds and supplies communications, networking, and computing systems for U.S. defense agencies. Its products help warfighters share information quickly and securely across airborne, maritime, and ground environments by using virtualized networks, modular tactical edge virtual networks, and gateway devices. The way their products work is by virtualizing and deploying network services close to where soldiers operate, enabling fast, reliable data sharing even in harsh environments. Fuse differentiates itself through a warfighter-focused design process that couples expert engineers with defense operations experts to tailor technology to mission needs, ensuring data is current, accurate, and easy to understand for decision-makers in the field. The company's goal is to provide practical, data-driven solutions that give tactical edge victories and extend utility beyond basic security requirements for U.S. military customers.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Grant
Total Funding
$1.7M
Headquarters
San Diego, California
Founded
2010
Get referred to Fuse Integration
See people who can refer or advise you
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- The May 2026 sole-source KRAKEN order funded $30.6 million immediately and extends through 2028.
- Fuse added an OV-10 Bronco test platform in September 2026, accelerating demonstrations.
- Management hired CFO Peter J. Gondek in 2024 and kept recruiting DevSecOps roles in 2026.
What critics are saying
- Fuse depends heavily on Navy buying cycles; the May 2026 $96.1 million order dominates visibility.
- The business is concentrated in one customer ecosystem, NAVAIR, making budget shifts immediate damage.
- If KRAKEN slips before February 2028, prime defense primes can displace Fuse’s niche permanently.
What makes Fuse Integration unique
- Fuse’s KRAKEN and CORE 5 systems run live tactical edge networking across air, sea, and seabed.
- Fuse’s AIRE platform opened its network stack to third-party AI developers in January 2025.
- Fuse pairs software-defined networking with deployed test aircraft and maritime gateways, not slideware.
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Benefits
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- Unlimited Paid Time Off
- Paid Holidays
- Paid Sick Leave
- 401(k) Company Match
- Phone/Internet Stipend
- Paid Vacation
- Performance Bonus