Security and Network Engineer

Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community.

Job Summary

IPAC at Caltech is seeking a Security and Network Engineer to support the cybersecurity, systems engineering, and high-performance network infrastructure powering world-class NASA, NSF, and privately funded ground and spaceborne observatories. As a member of the IPAC Support Group (ISG) Data Center Engineering team, you will play a key technical role in designing, maintaining, securing, and improving IPAC's computing and network infrastructure while working alongside other network, systems, and database engineers to build and defend the vital pipelines that connect the global astronomical community to invaluable scientific data.

IPAC, situated within the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy at Caltech (www.caltech.edu), provides science operations, pipeline processing, user support, and data services for high-profile missions including the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, SPHEREx, Euclid, the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, and the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). Our diverse portfolio of research archives includes multi-petabyte datasets like the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA), alongside highly curated reference repositories like the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED) and the NASA Exoplanet Archive, which are key research references for modern astrophysics and exoplanet science.

This role encompasses cybersecurity, systems engineering, and network engineering, with responsibility for developing technical solutions to complex infrastructure challenges. As part of a close-knit team of about ten engineers, you will help shape IPAC's infrastructure and security architecture, coordinate federal compliance activities, and provide technical expertise across the organization.

Essential Job Duties

As an IPAC Security and Network Engineer, your role will be to:

• Manage NASA ATO Compliance & Reporting: Coordinate IPAC's compliance, documentation, and reporting requirements necessary to achieve and maintain our NASA Authority to Operate (ATO) status. Lead the generation, aggregation, and continuous monitoring of evidence required to demonstrate compliance with federal mandates.
• Develop Security Plans & Frameworks: Design, maintain, and audit comprehensive System Security Plans (SSPs) and related Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) tracking for individual space missions, research projects, and IPAC-wide infrastructure.
• Implement NIST & NASA Frameworks: Translate federal compliance guidelines, specifically NIST SP 800-53 security controls, FIPS requirements, and NASA-specific IT security directives, into enforceable network architectures, system configurations, and operational workflows.
• Manage Enterprise Security Perimeters: Design, deploy, audit, and maintain firewall rules, intrusion prevention systems, and secure zone configurations across our enterprise edge, utilizing Palo Alto firewalls and related security platforms.
• Network Engineering & Infrastructure: Design, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot enterprise network infrastructure, including Arista and Cisco routing and switching environments. Evaluate network performance, availability, and reliability, identify complex technical issues, and recommend and implement improvements.
• Systems Engineering & Administration: Support the design, integration, administration, and maintenance of Linux-based systems and data center infrastructure. Analyze and resolve complex systems issues and develop solutions to improve performance, security, and operational efficiency.
• Monitor & Mitigate Threats: Implement and manage network-level monitoring, centralized logging, and security alerting tools to proactively analyze vulnerabilities, detect anomalies, and defend our data center environments.
• Technical Collaboration & Support: Serve as a senior technical resource to other engineers and project teams, providing expertise across network, systems, and security engineering. Participate in infrastructure planning, complex troubleshooting, and technical improvements, and provide guidance to colleagues as needed.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, plus a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience in network engineering, systems engineering, cybersecurity, or related IT infrastructure disciplines (or an equivalent combination of education and experience).
• Extensive hands-on experience in network design, systems administration, or enterprise infrastructure engineering, including Arista, Cisco, Linux, or similar technologies.
• Strong understanding of network architecture, routing and switching, systems infrastructure, and cybersecurity principles.
• Demonstrated ability to independently analyze and resolve complex technical problems and develop solutions to improve infrastructure performance, reliability, and security.
• Experience managing enterprise firewalls, network security controls, or related security infrastructure.
• Working familiarity with federal cybersecurity compliance frameworks (e.g., NIST SP 800-53, RMF).
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to provide technical guidance and work effectively across engineering teams.
• Qualify as a US PERSON as defined by ITAR regulations: A US person is a citizen of the United States, a lawful permanent resident alien of the US ("Green Card" holder), or an individual granted refugee or asylee status under US law.

Preferred Qualifications

Beyond these basic qualifications, there are skills and experiences which will give you a head start here. We are a specialized environment looking for a well-rounded engineer who thrives in a shared-responsibility model. If you have experience in a few of these areas, you will hit the ground running, but even if these don't yet describe you and your experience, we would still like to hear from you:

• Security Policy Development and Implementation: Experience drafting, updating, and enforcing organizational IT security policies, acceptable use guidelines, and incident response procedures in an academic or research setting.
• Compliance Frameworks & ATO Lifecycle: Practical experience steering systems through the federal cybersecurity Risk Management Framework (RMF) to secure or maintain an ATO. Direct familiarity with auditing NIST SP 800-53 controls, FIPS standards, or related NASA cybersecurity guidelines.
• Network Design & Administration: Experience designing, configuring, and troubleshooting enterprise LAN/WAN environments, routing and switching infrastructure, and network performance and availability.
• Security & Vulnerability Tooling: Hands-on experience with the deployment, configuration, and operational oversight of enterprise security tools, such as Rapid7 for vulnerability scanning and reporting, and CrowdStrike for endpoint protection.
• Systems & Scripting: Strong Linux systems administration skills (Red Hat or Debian) and experience leveraging scripting/programming languages (e.g., Python, Bash) for systems management, security analysis, log parsing, or task automation.
• Cloud Infrastructure & Security: Experience implementing and monitoring infrastructure and security controls within public cloud environments (e.g., AWS).
• Mission Alignment: A genuine interest in science, astronomy, or space exploration. Understanding mission objectives helps us build better systems for the scientists and staff we support.
• Teamwork & Collaboration: A strong collaborative mindset, a willingness to share operational duties, mentor colleagues, and communicate technical and compliance requirements clearly within an active engineering group.

Required Documents

• Resume.

Life at IPAC and Caltech

Caltech is an award-winning workplace and one of the best places to work in the greater Los Angeles area. We offer an exciting and dynamic work environment, career development opportunities, competitive pay programs, great benefits, and the opportunity to participate in many campus programs and activities.

People choose to work at IPAC for many reasons, and the casual, employee-centric culture often leads to fulfilling, long-term careers and lasting relationships. We seek the best and brightest talent to join our workforce and become members of our community.