Firewall Security Specialist

Firewall Security Specialist

Location: Toronto, ON

Onsite Flexibility: Hybrid - 2 days per week onsite (subject to change)

Contract Details

• Position Type: Contract
• Contract Duration: 12 months (extension possible up to 2 years; conversion to permanent possible)
• Pay Rate: C$90.00–C$95.00 / Hour (CAD)
• Shift / Schedule: Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (overtime not typical, though some potential exists)
• Travel Requirements: Not required

Job Summary

The IT Security Delivery Specialist is responsible for provisioning security rules in support of business objectives while following the client's standards across on-premises and cloud environments. This role plays a critical role in safeguarding the bank's global security footprint. The successful candidate will ensure the timely response to business application deployments via security policy adjustments, implementations, and assessments. The skills required to be effective in this role will include a deep understanding of firewall management using orchestration tools such as Tufin.

This position is foundational to the bank's security posture. The IT Security Delivery Specialist directly contributes to protecting customers, data, and the enterprise by ensuring that firewall controls are carefully designed, rigorously implemented, and consistently enforced. Success in this role requires not only deep technical capability, but also the ability to make risk-based decisions that support both security and business objectives.

This team supports firewall rules and network security for projects across the bank. The focus is firewall rule implementation and optimization. The environment is very large, highly complex, and heavily micro-segmented, handling 2,500–3,000 firewall requests per month with a standard target SLA of 5 business days. The enterprise-scale environment includes 15,000–20,000 employees and multiple data centers. This is not a security architecture or firewall engineering design role - the engineering team handles architecture.

Key Responsibilities

Firewall Design & Delivery

• Delivery of enterprise firewall solutions, including both physical and cloud-based platforms, in alignment with the client's security architecture and network standards.
• Develop and implement security-driven firewall policies that protect critical assets while enabling business initiatives and application onboarding.
• Liaise with application teams, technical asset owners, and business requestors on the crafting and implementation of firewall, segmentation, and policy rules across platforms such as Palo Alto, Guardicore, Akamai, and related products.
• Design and implement firewall rules on existing infrastructure.
• Troubleshoot network connectivity and security issues.
• Support a wide range of banking applications from a network security perspective.
• Work with firewall automation and contribute to ongoing automation improvements.

Security Governance & Risk Management

• Ensure all firewall implementations meet internal security requirements, regulatory obligations, and audit expectations as set forth by Enterprise Protect.
• Enforce disciplined change management practices, ensuring solutions are fully documented, peer reviewed, and production ready.
• Act as a subject matter expert in firewall security, providing guidance on risk mitigation, exception handling, and compensating controls.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborate with security, network, infrastructure, and application teams across the bank to understand technical and business requirements and translate them into secure firewall designs.
• Partner with business stakeholders to balance security objectives with operational needs, clearly articulating risk, impact, and recommended solutions.
• Communicate effectively with senior technical leaders and delivery partners to ensure alignment and timely execution of initiatives.

Operational Excellence & Support

• Provide senior-level (Tier 3 / Tier 4) support and consultation for complex firewall-related incidents, deployments, and avoiding service disruptions.
• Support large-scale initiatives with tight delivery timelines by ensuring firewall services are delivered reliably, consistently, and with a strong focus on quality.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of firewall delivery processes, standards, and operational readiness.

Must-Have Requirements

• Palo Alto, Guardicore, &/or Netskope
• Automation experience
• Service Now
• ITIL/V3plus
• Strong troubleshooting skills

Required Skills

• Demonstrated expertise in enterprise firewall technologies and network security principles (Palo Alto, Guardicore, &/or Netskope experience highly preferred)
• Strong understanding of how different security devices integrate within a secure enterprise network environment
• Proven ability to operate independently, exercise sound technical judgment, and influence positive outcomes across teams
• Exceptional documentation, communication, and stakeholder management skills appropriate for a senior role in a regulated financial institution
• Strong understanding of one or more of the core technologies and/or concepts:

• Palo Alto Firewall (with Panorama) - Guardicore Firewalls - Shape (F5) - Tufin Policy Orchestration tool

• Working knowledge of how different technologies mesh together in enterprise environments
• Working knowledge of security implementation in a hybrid enterprise
• Problem solving and mentoring abilities are crucial to success
• Strong firewall troubleshooting experience, not just rule provisioning
• Deep understanding of network routing and traffic flow
• Deep understanding of Layer 3 networking
• Deep understanding of network segmentation and micro-segmentation
• Strong communication skills

Preferred Skills

• Palo Alto Firewall management with Panorama (highly desirable)
• Guardicore (highly desirable)
• Netskope (highly desirable)
• Akamai
• Zero Trust concepts and implementation
• Shape
• Policy automation tools (i.e., Tufin)
• Experience with firewall automation tools (highly desirable)
• Ideally hands-on experience with at least two of: Palo Alto, Guardicore, Netskope (Palo Alto experience is considered essential; Guardicore knowledge is a strong advantage)
• Cisco routing / Cisco routers
• Banking/financial or large enterprise organization experience (helpful)

Education Requirements

• Computer Science degree or relevant degree required
• ITIL v3 or ITIL v4 certification is required (considered non-negotiable)

Required Experience

• 5 years of progressive responsibilities with firewall technologies
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience
• Experience in ServiceNow: 5 years
• Experience with Palo Alto, Guardicore, &/or Netskope: 5 years
• Troubleshooting and issue resolution: 5 years

Nice-to-Have Experience

• Cisco routers: 1 year
• Large enterprise organization experience: 1 year
• Banking/financial institution experience (helpful)
• Firewall automation has been in place for about 7 years at the client and is continually evolving through new projects and integrations - experience contributing to automation improvements is an asset

About the Client

This client is one of North America's largest financial services institutions - the sixth-largest bank on the continent by branches - headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, and serving approximately 22 million customers across Canada, the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. With over 85,000 employees worldwide, the organization operates a full-service financial platform spanning personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, and payment solutions. Teams here include retail banking advisors, commercial lenders, wealth management professionals, risk analysts, and technology specialists, all working within a culture that is respectful, team-oriented, and built around recognizing the unique contributions of every individual.

About GTT

GTT is a minority-owned staffing firm and a subsidiary of Chenega Corporation, a Native American-owned company in Alaska. We highly value diverse and inclusive workplaces and support Fortune 500 organizations across banking, financial services, technology, life sciences, biotech, utilities, and retail sectors throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Job Number:

26-17570 Industry: Information Technology