Network Firewall Engineer- Cisco/Palo Alto

Position is a normal M-F shift but there are days that they can expect to work including an on-call requirement, scheduled public events involving the US Capitol (Independence Day, National Mall celebrations, national elections), unscheduled Capitol events including heads of states lying in wake or memorials, large rallies, etc.

Work Location: Washington, DC 

Work Arrangement: Onsite 

Clearance:  Must have an active Secret clearance

The Network Engineer is responsible for the design, implementation, configuration, and troubleshooting of the organization’s network infrastructure. This role involves ensuring the stability and performance of the network. The Network Engineer works to maintain network reliability, resolve issues promptly, and collaborate with other IT teams to ensure that networking systems support the organization's operational needs. Network Engineer will monitor equipment, update configurations, and repair equipment as necessary. This position requires hands-on experience with Palo Alto firewalls.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Palo Alto firewall platform
• Assist in the design, implementation, and maintenance of network infrastructure 
• Maintain documentation of network architecture and configurations
• Extract network configuration reports as needed
• Monitor network performance and troubleshoot issues proactively
• Manage and maintain firewall platforms (e.g., Palo Alto, Cisco ASA/Firepower), including rule base administration, NAT policy updates, and object/group management
• Implement and support firewall change management processes, including risk/impact assessment, maintenance windows, validation testing, and rollback planning
• Monitor firewall health, throughput, and logs; investigate alerts and coordinate incident response activities
• Ensure firewall configurations align with security baselines and compliance requirements, support periodic access reviews, audits, and vulnerability remediation
• Support firewall security services (e.g., IPS/IDS, URL filtering, application control) and tune policies to reduce false positives while maintaining protection
• Assist with performing system upgrades and patches
• Provide escalation technical support and incident resolution to include field operations support
• Assist in planning and executing disaster recovery and back up strategies

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in IT or related field of study or equivalent relevant experience plus 5 years of experience as a Network Engineer.
• Strong technical expertise in network engineering including firewall management, service desk setup, and multicasting
• Hands-on experience administering next-generation firewalls (NGFW) (e.g., Palo Alto, Cisco Firepower/ASA), including policy creation/updates and object/group management
• Working knowledge of firewall rule base design best practices (least privilege, segmentation, documentation/standards) and periodic access/rule reviews
• Proficiency with firewall logging/monitoring and traffic analysis (e.g., syslog, NetFlow)
• Familiarity with firewall hardening, patching, and configuration compliance, including implementing changes through formal change control and supporting audits.
• Strong experience with Palo Alto and Cisco products and tools
• Strong experience with SolarWinds and its modules
• Familiar with various applications, such as Wireshark and Dameware
• Strong problem solving and communication skills
• Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) - Security certification strongly preferred
• Other preferred certifications and training (or similar equivalents):
•  Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE)
• Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert
• Microsoft Certifications and Applied Skills
• Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)
• Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
• CompTIA Network
• CompTIA A
• Azure Database Administrator Associate
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals