Principal Transport and IP Network Engineer

AST SpaceMobile is building a global cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices for commercial and government applications.

Position Overview

We are seeking a Principal Transport and IP Network Engineer to support the complete networking solution within the Gateway, including switches, routers, firewalls, and the optical matrix. This role defines, lifecycle-manages, and documents network SKUs across Gateway types; develops acceptance testing procedures, pass/fail criteria, and golden configurations; and leads networking First Office Applications for new Gateway SKUs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the complete Gateway networking solution.
• Define, manage, and document network SKUs.
• Develop acceptance tests, pass/fail criteria, and golden configurations.
• Integrate networking equipment with eNB/gNB, BPMS, NCC, and OSS systems.
• Design resilient connectivity, routing, traffic engineering, QoS, failover, redundancy, and scalable IP architectures.
• Integrate terrestrial fiber and cloud environments.
• Implement telemetry and troubleshoot packet loss, asymmetric routing, and service degradation.

Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, telecommunications engineering, or a related technical field.

Experience:

5+ years of experience in carrier-grade IP network engineering, including production routing, switching, firewall, and optical transport infrastructure; network product SKUs, acceptance testing, and golden configurations; FOA or first-deployment validation; MPLS, segment routing, BGP, SDN, traffic engineering, QoS, multicast, data-center and cloud networking, transport resiliency, network security, and gateway redundancy.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Satellite ground-segment, teleport, or distributed gateway networking experience.
• CCIE, JNCIE, or equivalent certifications.
• Mobile Network Operator interconnect or interoperability experience.
• NCC/OSS integration experience.
• Network telemetry, automation, and infrastructure-as-code experience.
• Optical transport or DWDM integration experience.

Soft Skills:

Strong interpersonal, collaboration, communication, analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and time-management skills; attention to detail; and the ability to work independently and cross-functionally.

Technology Stack:

Carrier-grade routers, switches, firewalls, MPLS, segment routing, BGP, SDN, optical transport and DWDM systems, QoS and traffic-engineering frameworks, telemetry and monitoring tools, cloud networking platforms, network security tools, and test automation frameworks.

Physical Requirements

Ability to work in office, laboratory, and technical testing environments; use a computer for extended periods; travel periodically; safely handle technical equipment when necessary; and capture, analyze, and document technical test procedures, results, and system performance data.

This job description may not include all duties and responsibilities. Additional tasks may be assigned or the scope may change based on business demands.

AST SpaceMobile is an Equal Opportunity, at-will Employer.