Principal Engineer

Verisign helps enable the security, stability, and resiliency of the internet. We are a trusted provider of internet infrastructure services for the networked world and deliver unmatched performance in domain name system (DNS) services.
We are a mission focused, values driven company where each individual can contribute to building a stronger, more secure internet. We offer a dynamic and flexible work environment with competitive benefits and the ability to grow your career.
The Principal Engineer is responsible for developing, managing, and optimizing the organization’s global Internet interconnection strategy. This role oversees settlement-free peering, paid peering, IP transit, Internet Exchange (IX) participation, traffic engineering, routing policy, and strategic relationships with network operators, content providers, cloud providers, carriers, and Regional Internet Registries (RIRs).
The ideal candidate possesses strong technical networking expertise, business negotiation skills, and industry engagement experience to improve network performance, reduce transit costs, increase resiliency, and support the company’s global connectivity objectives.
Responsibilities:
Interconnection Strategy
Develop and execute the global peering and interconnection strategy
Identify opportunities to expand peering relationships and optimize transit utilization
Drive network growth through strategic partnerships with ISPs, cloud providers, content networks, CDNs, carriers, and hyperscalers
Evaluate new IX opportunities and regional expansion initiatives
Establish KPIs for traffic offload, cost reduction, latency improvements, and resiliency
Peering Management
Negotiate and manage:
Settlement-Free Peering
Bilateral Peering
Multilateral Peering
Public Peering
Private Peering
Maintain peering policies and qualification requirements
Manage relationships through:
PeeringDB
IX communities
Industry forums
Network operator groups
Coordinate onboarding and operational support for new peers
Resolve peering disputes, routing issues, and traffic imbalances
Internet Exchange (IX) Operations
Manage participation across global Internet Exchanges
Evaluate IX performance and ROI
Coordinate provisioning of:
Cross-connects
Port upgrades
New exchange deployments
Develop business cases for new IX expansion
Maintain relationships with IX operators and executive leadership
IP Transit Management
Manage global transit providers and carrier relationships
Conduct transit capacity planning
Negotiate contracts and pricing
Evaluate transit performance and redundancy requirements
Develop strategies to reduce transit costs through increased peering
Monitor traffic shifts between transit and peering environments
Routing & Traffic Engineering
Define and maintain routing policies
Optimize traffic flows across:
Peering
Transit
IX fabrics
Private interconnections
Manage traffic engineering initiatives using:
BGP communities
Local Preference
MED
AS Path Prepending
Analyze traffic patterns and forecast growth
Improve latency, packet loss, and path optimization
Industry Engagement
Represent the company at:
NANOG
RIPE
APRICOT
LACNIC
ARIN
APNIC
Global Peering Forum
Build executive-level relationships across the Internet ecosystem
Participate in policy discussions and industry working groups
Monitor industry trends affecting interconnection and Internet governance
Cross-Functional Leaderships
Partner with:
Network Engineering
Infrastructure Operations
Security
Product Management
Legal
Procurement
Finance
Develop executive reporting and dashboards
Present interconnection strategy and performance metrics to senior leadership
Required Technical Expertise
Routing Protocols
BGP-4 (Border Gateway Protocol)
eBGP
iBGP
Route Reflectors
Confederations
BGP Communities
Large Communities
Flowspec
Core Internet Protocols
IPv4
IPv6
ICMP
TCP/IP
UDP
MPLS
Routing Technologies
OSPF
IS-IS
Segment Routing
EVPN
VXLAN
Internet Infrastructure
Internet Exchanges (IX)
Route Servers
Route Collectors
CDN Architectures
Anycast
DNS Infrastructure
DDoS Mitigation Architectures
Content Delivery Networks
Routing Security
RPKI
ROA Validation
ASPA
BGPsec
MANRS
IRR Databases
Route Filtering
Prefix Filtering
Monitoring & Analytics
NetFlow
sFlow
IPFIX
SNMP
Telemetry
Traffic Analytics Platforms
Capacity Planning Tools
Cloud & Interconnection Platforms
AWS Direct Connect
Azure ExpressRoute
Google Cloud Interconnect
Oracle FastConnect
Equinix Fabric
Megaport
Business & Commercial Responsibilities
Peering negotiations
Transit contract negotiations
Capacity planning and budgeting
Vendor management
Cost optimization initiatives
SLA management
Risk assessment and mitigation
Executive reporting and forecasting
Requirements:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Telecommunications, or related field
15+ years related engineering experience
7+ years of Internet networking experience
5+ years of peering, transit, or interconnection experience
Experience managing relationships with ISPs, carriers, cloud providers, and IX operators
Proven experience negotiating peering and transit agreements
Experience operating large-scale global networks
Preferred Certifications
CCNP Service Provider
CCIE Service Provider
JNCIP-SP
JNCIE-SP
AWS Advanced Networking Specialty
MANRS Certification Knowledge
RPKI Deployment Experience
This position is based in our Reston, VA office and offers a hybrid work schedule.
The pay range is $180,700 - $244,500.
The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is noted above, however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience. Verisign offers a discretionary bonus which is based on individual and company performance, and certain roles may be eligible for discretionary stock awards.
Verisign is an equal opportunity employer. That means we recruit, hire, compensate, train, promote, transfer, and administer all terms and conditions of employment without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, protected veteran status, disability, or other protected categories under applicable law.
Additional Information:
Our Careers Page
Our Benefits Summary
Verisign in the Community
Our EEO Statement
Our Privacy Notice for Job Applicants/Candidates
Reasonable Accommodations
Staffing agency policy: No fees will be paid for unsolicited resumes submitted to Verisign or our employees by third parties.