Required Skills: Palo Alto, VPN, Network

Job Description

We need a Palo certified engineer that can work 35 hours a week on site at Suffolk for Firewall management. This is going to be 6-12 month renewable contract.

Daily Tasks

Monitor firewall and Panorama system health (CPU, memory, sessions, interfaces)

Review system and threat logs for anomalies and critical alerts

Validate High Availability (HA) status and synchronization

Ensure successful log forwarding to SIEM/logging systems

Review and respond to service requests and incident tickets

Weekly Tasks

Analyze traffic trends, application usage, and bandwidth consumption

Review and tune firewall policies for optimization and security posture

Validate content and signature updates (Threat, Apps, WildFire, URL filtering)

Conduct rulebase hygiene (identify unused, redundant, or overly permissive rules)

Provide weekly operational reporting

Monthly Tasks

Perform comprehensive firewall health and performance review

Analyze threat trends and provide actionable recommendations

Validate licensing and subscription status

Review SSL decryption coverage and effectiveness

Update documentation (runbooks, diagrams, configurations)

Deliver monthly executive report and recommendations

As-Needed Tasks

Implement firewall policy changes and configuration updates

Support incident response and troubleshooting activities

Perform packet capture and deep traffic analysis

Participate in change management processes (CAB approvals)

Assist with audit requests and compliance validation

Provide recommendations for architecture improvements

11.2 Required Technical Experience

The assigned engineer must demonstrate the following minimum experience and qualifications:

Core Requirements

Minimum 5+ years of hands-on experience with Palo Alto Networks NGFW

Strong experience with Panorama centralized management

Deep knowledge of:

App-ID, User-ID, and Content-ID

Security policies and NAT configurations

Zone-based firewall architecture

Security & Threat Expertise

Experience analyzing:

Threat logs (malware, exploits, C2 traffic)

WildFire analysis and verdicts

DNS Security and URL filtering events

Understanding of:

Network security principles

Threat detection and response workflows

Networking & Troubleshooting

Strong understanding of:

TCP/IP, routing, switching, and VLANs

VPN technologies (IPSec and GlobalProtect)

Experience with:

Packet capture tools

CLI-based troubleshooting

Session-level traffic analysis

Operational & Process Experience

Experience working within:

Change management processes (CAB)

Incident management workflows

ITSM/ticketing systems

Ability to:

Document configurations and procedures

Produce operational and executive-level reports

Certifications (Preferred)

Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE) – Preferred

Other relevant certifications (e.g., Security+, CISSP) – Beneficial

11.3 Soft Skills & Professional Requirements

Strong communication skills (technical and non-technical)

Ability to work independently and within a team environment

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

Ability to prioritize tasks in a dynamic operational environment

Professional demeanor suitable for public sector engagement