What are the responsibilities and job description for the Cyber Security Engineer - Zero Trust Security position at Smksoft?
Role: Cyber Security Engineer - Zero Trust Security
Hybrid Role in Vienna, VA or Pensacola, FL
JD:
The Zero Trust Security Engineer is responsible for driving the implementation of Zero Trust security rules, including formal requests to firewall teams, ongoing coordination, validation of changes, and post-implementation verification.
This role is execution-focused and serves as the single point of accountability for ensuring Zero Trust rules are implemented correctly, completely, and auditable across firewall and security platforms.
Key Responsibilities
Rule Implementation & Coordination
- Translate Zero Trust analysis outputs into formal firewall and security rule requests
- Submit detailed implementation requests to firewall teams, including:
- Source identities (users, groups, roles)
- Destination applications, addresses, and services
- Required ports, protocols, and application IDs
- Ensure requests meet firewall team standards and contain all required technical details
Cross-Team Execution
- Act as the primary liaison between Zero Trust, IAM, firewall engineering, and application teams
- Track firewall requests from submission through completion
- Resolve implementation questions, clarifications, or discrepancies with firewall engineers
Validation & Verification
- Validate that implemented firewall rules exactly match approved Zero Trust requirements
- Perform post-implementation testing to confirm:
- Authorized access works as expected
- Unauthorized access is blocked
- Identify and remediate misconfigurations, partial implementations, or policy drift
Audit & Lifecycle Management
- Ensure all implemented rules are properly tagged, documented, and traceable to application and Zero Trust requirements
- Maintain implementation records for audit, compliance, and reporting
- Support ongoing refinement of Zero Trust rules as application access requirements evolve
Required Skills & Experience
- Hands-on experience working with enterprise firewalls (Palo Alto preferred)
- Strong understanding of user-based and application-aware firewall policies
- Experience submitting and managing firewall rule requests in enterprise environments
- Ability to validate security rule implementations and troubleshoot access issues
- Strong coordination and communication skills across technical teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience implementing Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solutions
- Familiarity with IAM, Entra ID groups, Active Directory groups, and RBAC models
- Experience integrating firewall rules with application onboarding frameworks
- Knowledge of audit, compliance, and security reporting requirements
Success Metrics
- Firewall rules are requested properly and implemented correctly the first time
- Efficient coordination with minimal back-and-forth between teams
- Verified and auditable Zero Trust enforcement across applications