Description

Senior Systems Engineer
Location: San Diego, CA

Hybrid; on-site as required at Government facility

Salary $175K-195K

Clearance: Active Secret required; Top Secret eligibility preferred

Position Overview

ActioNet is seeking an experienced Senior Systems Engineer to design, build, and validate the compute, storage, and network foundation of a Navy tactical systems integration testbed under a phased modernization and prototype effort.
The Senior Systems Engineer owns the infrastructure layer across two capability areas: technical and integration support for the testbed environment, and AI-ready infrastructure and systems modernization. The position carries a design from current-state assessment through architecture, pilot build, performance validation, and scale-out roadmap, with Government decision points at defined milestones.

This is a hands-on prototype role. A dedicated C4I/Tactical Data Link subject matter expert and an AI compute specialist support the effort; this position supplies the environment they operate in and the interfaces they build against.

Key Responsibilities

Assessment and Baseline• Assess the existing testbed environment, including virtualization, storage area networks, enterprise network architecture, cyber posture, and integration constraints across legacy virtual and physical systems.
• Conduct the infrastructure current-state review across compute, storage, virtualization, data, and edge environments to define the pilot baseline.
• Identify candidate systems, interfaces, and modernization priorities, and rank them by integration risk.
• Document interface assumptions, dependencies, and Government-furnished infrastructure requirements.

Architecture and Design
• Own the transport, network, and storage layers of the integration architecture, translating protocol and data-flow requirements into network design, interface specifications, and throughput budgets.
• Design hyperconverged infrastructure environments, secure hybrid cloud edge nodes, and high-performance storage optimized for data throughput.
• Size and lay out the network and storage fabric supporting GPU-dense compute against defined workload profiles.
• Incorporate segmentation, identity and access, and secure configuration into the design from the outset, aligned to Impact Level 5 requirements and Zero Trust principles.

Pilot Build and Integration
• Drive component selection and the pilot bill of materials, including hardware, software, and licensing assumptions, configuration dependencies, lead times, and cost drivers.
• Stand up, cable, configure, and integrate the pilot environment within approved scope.
• Execute the network and infrastructure portion of the integration prototype and validate interoperability with existing testbed systems or protocols.
• Resolve integration defects across vendor boundaries and coordinate original equipment manufacturer support where required.

Validation and Roadmap• Establish throughput, latency, and input/output performance baselines and validate the pilot against defined AI/ML workload benchmarks.
• Build automated test and validation where feasible and document constraints where automation is not practical.
• Assess scalability, operational fit, and readiness for follow-on expansion.
• Author the infrastructure sections of the scale-out roadmap and follow-on Rough Order of Magnitude estimate, including hardware quantities, licensing, and sustainment considerations.

Program Support
• Support Initial Design Review, interim progress demonstrations, and prototype demonstrations to the Government customer.
• Produce engineering documentation to Government standards and maintain technical interface and dependency risks in the program risk register.

Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 8+ years of infrastructure, systems, or network engineering experience, including 3+ years leading technical design on DoW or federal programs.
• Demonstrated depth in at least two of the following, and working competence in the third: enterprise networking; virtualization and hyperconverged infrastructure; storage architecture and performance tuning.
• Demonstrated record taking an infrastructure design from current-state assessment through build, test, and customer acceptance.
• Working experience with DoW cybersecurity compliance in practice, including Security Technical Implementation Guides, eMASS, Risk Management Framework artifacts, or Authority to Operate support.
• Experience producing engineering documentation that others build against, including interface specifications, design packages, and test procedures.
• Experience coordinating original equipment manufacturers or technology partners during integration.
• Active Secret clearance.
• Ability to work a hybrid schedule, with on-site support at a Government facility in San Diego, CA, as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with GPU-dense or AI/ML workload infrastructure, or with tuning network and storage for high-throughput workloads.
• Exposure to Tactical Data Links, C4I/JADC2, or Integrated Air and Missile Defense environments.
• NAVWAR or Naval Information Warfare Center program experience, including NAVWAR Systems Engineering Process, System Installation Planning and Handling, Department of Defense Architecture Framework artifacts, or System Operational Verification Testing.
• Lab-as-a-Service, Model-Based Systems Engineering, or automated environment provisioning experience.
• Infrastructure-as-code or configuration management tooling, such as Terraform or Ansible.
• Prototype, Other Transaction Authority, or other milestone-gated delivery experience with Government decision points.
• Top Secret eligibility or an active Top Secret clearance.

Desired Certifications
• Security+, required for DoW 8570 IAT Level II compliance
• CCNP or CCIE
• VMware VCP or VCAP, or Nutanix NCP
• Storage vendor certification (NetApp, Pure Storage, Dell EMC)
• CISSP, preferred but not required

Key Competencies
• Infrastructure design • Systems integration
• Network architecture • Storage performance tuning
• Virtualization and HCI • Test and validation
• Technical documentation • Vendor and OEM coordination
• Problem isolation • Customer briefing

What Makes a Successful Candidate?

The ideal candidate is a hands-on infrastructure engineer who works comfortably across the network, compute, and storage layers rather than owning one of them. The candidate assesses environments they did not build, produces documentation others can execute against, defends technical decisions to a Government customer at milestone reviews, and delivers a working pilot under a compressed prototype schedule.

********Direct Applicants, only. No Agencies, No third-party recruiters, please********