Senior NSX Engineer with Security Clearance

NorthHill Technology Resources has a need for a Senior NSX Engineer to support a Federal Program in Springfield, VA. This is a direct-hire role with our client, a fast-growing Federal Integrator. An active TS/SCI Clearance is required, will sponsor for CI Polygraph within first year. Senior NSX Engineer — DoD Environment
We are seeking a Senior NSX Engineer to design, implement, operate, secure, and troubleshoot VMware NSX-based network virtualization in a mission-critical U.S. Department of Defense environment.

The ideal candidate brings at least 5 years of hands-on VMware NSX engineering experience, strong vSphere/VCF integration knowledge, and a proven record working within DoD security, compliance, and operational processes. This role is suited to an engineer who can own the full NSX lifecycle—from architecture and deployment through operational support, hardening, automation, upgrades, and incident resolution—while collaborating effectively with network, cybersecurity, systems, storage, and program teams.

Core responsibilities
Design, deploy, configure, and sustain VMware NSX-T / VCF Networking solutions supporting production, development, test, and mission environments. Engineer and maintain NSX management, control, and data planes, including NSX Managers, transport nodes, transport node profiles, host and edge transport zones, uplink profiles, N-VDS or VDS-backed configurations as applicable, and NSX Edge clusters.

Design and administer logical networking services, including overlay segments, VLAN-backed segments, Tier-0 and Tier-1 gateways, distributed routing, BGP, static routing, ECMP, north-south connectivity, and east-west traffic flows. Implement and maintain microsegmentation and zero-trust-aligned controls using NSX Distributed Firewall, Gateway Firewall, groups, tags, service insertion, context profiles, and policy-based security controls.

Develop and manage firewall rulesets in coordination with cybersecurity, ISSO/ISSM, RMF, application, and network teams; ensure policies follow least-privilege principles and are documented, reviewed, approved, and auditable. Integrate NSX with VMware vCenter Server, vSphere clusters, VMware Cloud Foundation, vSAN, VMware Aria Operations/Logs, identity platforms, PKI/certificate services, SIEM platforms, vulnerability-management tools, and enterprise monitoring systems.

Troubleshoot complex issues across virtual and physical networking layers, including routing adjacency failures, BGP peering, MTU mismatches, tunnel endpoint connectivity, Geneve encapsulation, multicast or unicast replication behavior, firewall rule processing, asymmetric routing, packet loss, performance degradation, and Edge-node failures. Perform packet-level troubleshooting using NSX CLI, nsxcli, ESXi commands, vmkping, pktcap-uw, tcpdump-uw, distributed firewall rule analysis, logical-port inspection, traceflow, flow monitoring, and physical-switch diagnostics.

Lead planning and execution for NSX upgrades, patches, certificate replacement, configuration changes, migrations, backup/restore validation, and lifecycle-management activities while minimizing operational risk and service interruption. Develop implementation plans, maintenance-window procedures, backout plans, test plans, validation checklists, and post-change documentation for production changes.

Support migration efforts from legacy NSX-V, traditional VLAN-based networks, legacy firewall architectures, or standalone NSX environments into VMware Cloud Foundation and modern NSX-based architectures. Build and maintain standardized NSX configuration baselines, naming conventions, network diagrams, IP address-management documentation, firewall-policy matrices, operational runbooks, and as-built documentation. Participate in architecture reviews, design discussions, technical interchange meetings, engineering change reviews, compliance assessments, and operational readiness reviews.

Provide Tier 3 escalation support for NSX, vSphere networking, distributed firewalling, routing, and virtual network security incidents. Mentor junior engineers and administrators; establish repeatable engineering standards and operational procedures for NSX support. Required qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be substituted. At least 5 years of hands-on experience designing, implementing, operating, or supporting VMware NSX in enterprise-scale environments.

At least 5 years of experience with VMware vSphere, including ESXi, vCenter Server, vSphere Distributed Switches, virtual networking, cluster operations, host lifecycle management, and troubleshooting.

Demonstrated expertise with NSX-T / VMware Cloud Foundation Networking capabilities, including:
Overlay and VLAN-backed segments
Tier-0 and Tier-1 gateways
Distributed routing and centralized services
NSX Edge Nodes and Edge clusters
BGP, static routing, ECMP, and route redistribution
Distributed Firewall and Gateway Firewall
Security groups, dynamic membership, tagging, and policy automation
North-south and east-west traffic design
VPN, NAT, load-balancing, DHCP, DNS forwarding, and other NSX services as applicable
NSX Manager clustering, backups, certificates, upgrades, and recovery procedures
Strong understanding of enterprise networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, ARP, VLANs, VXLAN/Geneve, MTU, routing, BGP, OSPF, VRFs, link aggregation, firewalling, NAT, load balancing, and network troubleshooting.

Hands-on experience operating in DoD, federal civilian, intelligence community, or other heavily regulated environments with formal change control, documentation, security approval, and audit requirements. Working knowledge of DoD cybersecurity processes and terminology, including RMF, ATO, STIGs, POA&Ms, vulnerability management, DISA guidance, security controls, and continuous monitoring. Ability to review, interpret, and remediate applicable DISA STIGs and security findings for VMware components, operating systems, and supporting infrastructure.

Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to create technical diagrams, implementation plans, security documentation, standard operating procedures, and executive-ready status updates. Required certifications
The final certification requirement should align with the contract’s assigned DoD Cyber Workforce Framework role and component-specific guidance. A practical baseline for this role is:
Current CompTIA Security+ CE or another approved DoD 8140-aligned baseline certification appropriate to the assigned work role.

One current VMware/Broadcom networking, security, or cloud-foundation certification, such as:
VMware Certified Professional – Network Virtualization / VCP-NV, if held and applicable
VMware Certified Professional – VMware Cloud Foundation Administrator
VMware Certified Professional – VMware Cloud Foundation Architect
Comparable current Broadcom/VMware certification focused on NSX, VCF networking, or network virtualization
Preferred qualifications
5+ years of enterprise network virtualization, virtual infrastructure, network security, or cloud-platform engineering experience.

Experience designing or supporting VMware Cloud Foundation environments, including VCF lifecycle management, SDDC Manager, workload domains, vSphere, and NSX integration. Experience integrating NSX with physical enterprise networks, including Cisco Nexus, Juniper, Palo Alto Networks, F5, or similar technologies. Familiarity with data-center architectures such as VXLAN, BGP underlay/overlay routing, multi-rack design, and high-availability network services.

Experience with automation and infrastructure as code using PowerShell/PowerCLI, Ansible, VMware Aria Automation, REST APIs, Git, YAML, and JSON. Experience integrating NSX telemetry and logs with Splunk and Elastic. Experience with enterprise PKI, certificate lifecycle management, Active Directory, LDAP, identity federation, RBAC, privileged-access management, and multifactor authentication. Experience supporting disconnected, air-gapped, tactical edge, or classified environments. Experience with Dell PowerEdge, Cisco UCS, HPE and storage/network performance troubleshooting.

Familiarity with DISA STIG Viewer, SCAP scanning, ACAS/Nessus and POA&M remediation workflows.

Technical Skills
Technical domain Required capability
NSX architecture Design and operate NSX Manager clusters, transport zones, transport nodes, Edge clusters, segments, gateways, and security policies
Routing Troubleshoot and configure BGP, static routes, ECMP, route redistribution, Tier-0/Tier-1 routing, and physical-network integration
Network security Implement microsegmentation, Distributed Firewall, Gateway Firewall, dynamic groups, tagging, rule analysis, and least-privilege policies vSphere Deep vCenter, ESXi, VDS, VMkernel, vmnic, port-group, cluster, and host-networking knowledge
Troubleshooting Use traceflow, NSX CLI, ESXi packet capture, flow data, logs, BGP diagnostics, and packet-level analysis
Operations Execute upgrades, backup/recovery, certificate replacement, lifecycle management, and maintenance-window changes
DoD compliance Support RMF, STIGs, ATO packages, vulnerability remediation, change control, audit evidence, and continuous monitoring
Automation Build repeatable workflows using PowerCLI, Ansible, REST APIs, Git, or equivalent tooling
Documentation Produce and maintain diagrams, runbooks, firewall matrices, test plans and backout plans