Communications Network Engineering Intern

About the Role

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges.

The Intelligent Network Services department (L614) within MITRE Technology and Engineering specializes in complex network challenges vital to national well-being. Our work involves researching, developing, and applying advanced technologies in core areas such as:

• Enterprise Network Engineering
• Network Security
• Network Modeling and Simulation
• IT Service Management (ITSM)
• Infrastructure Virtualization and Containerization
• Software Development

Key Responsibilities

As an intern, you will engage in hands-on, mission-driven work under the guidance of experienced engineers. Responsibilities encompass the full lifecycle — from design and prototyping to implementation and assessment — of networking and digital service management solutions. Interns are expected to participate in the following core activities:

• Network Design & Strategy: Partner with teams to create technical architecture, frameworks, and artifacts covering network and service management domains.
• Network Implementation & Validation: Configure and validate core network services and policies — including routing/switching, DNS/DHCP, load balancing, VPNs, firewall/ACLs, and Zero Trust — in diverse environments, emphasizing deployment automation.
• AI-enabled Infrastructure: Perform as-is, to-be, and gap analyses to design and implement AI-enabled infrastructure across data centers, cloud, and on-premises environments.
• Service Improvement: Utilize IT Service Management principles and tools such as ServiceNow, to optimize service delivery processes.
• Risk Analysis: Conduct cybersecurity risk analysis on proposed designs, evaluate security postures, and recommend mitigation strategies and trade-offs.
• Technical Reporting: Clearly articulate technical findings, methodologies, and project outcomes via written reports, briefings, and demonstrations for sponsors and internal teams.
• Knowledge Sharing: Actively participate in internal MITRE technical exchange events focusing on emerging trends in networking and digital transformation.

Requirements & Tech Stack

Basic Qualifications

• Knowledge or applicable internship(s) in the fields of Network Engineering, and/or Software Development.
• Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
• This position requires a minimum of 4 days on-site.
• Sustained excellence in academic performance.
• Must be a student enrolled full-time in an accredited degree-seeking program in computer science, computer information systems, cybersecurity, computer engineering, electrical engineering or a related degree and continue to be enrolled full-time the semester following the internship.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certification: CCNA, CCNP
• Networking Knowledge: Foundational knowledge of network and network security fundamentals including IPv4/IPv6, LAN/WAN, routing, switching, firewalls, access control, VPN and Zero Trust.
• Datacenter Knowledge: Familiarity with the full lifecycle of data centers, encompassing design, operations, consolidations, and migrations; including physical infrastructure (cabling, power, and cooling) and the digital infrastructure (servers, storage, workstations, routers, switches, firewalls, and data/voice/video networks). Experience should also include modern paradigms like Software-Defined Data Centers (SDDC), hyperconverged infrastructure, edge computing, and AI-enabled Infrastructure.
• Cloud & Virtualization: Familiarity with cloud, virtualization, containerization, and Kubernetes technologies, encompassing compute, storage, and networking across cloud environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
• Software Development & Automation: Software engineering experience using languages like C++, Python, and JavaScript. Experience with scripting and automation tools such as Ansible, Terraform, PowerShell, and Bash.
• Digital Services and ITSM: Familiarity with Digital Services, IT Service Management (ITSM) concepts, and the ServiceNow platform.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• An ability to work in both individual and team settings.

Compensation

• Salary compensation range and midpoint: $46,500 - $58,000 - $69,500 Annual
• Work Location Type: Onsite