Firewall Consultant

The L3 Firewall Support Consultant is responsible for providing advanced technical support, administration, troubleshooting, and optimization of enterprise network security infrastructure, primarily focusing on Cisco Firepower/ASA and Palo Alto Networks firewalls. The role involves handling complex incidents, implementing security policies, driving root cause analysis, and ensuring high availability and security compliance across the network environment. Relevant enterprise references include skills around Palo Alto, Cisco Firepower/ASA, VPNs, security policy management, incident resolution, and network security engineering.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide Level 3 support for Cisco ASA, Cisco Firepower (FTD/FMC), and Palo Alto firewalls.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex network security incidents, escalations, and service outages.
• Design, review, and implement firewall security policies, NAT rules, and access control lists.
• Configure and support Site-to-Site VPNs, Remote Access VPNs, IPSec, and SSL VPN solutions.
• Perform firewall upgrades, migration activities, patching, and firmware management.
• Conduct root cause analysis (RCA) and prepare incident/problem management reports.
• Monitor firewall health, performance, capacity, and security threats.
• Support IDS/IPS, URL Filtering, Threat Prevention, and Application Control features.
• Collaborate with SOC, Network, Cloud, and Infrastructure teams during major incidents and security events.
• Ensure compliance with security standards, audit requirements, and change management processes.
• Participate in on-call support and major incident bridges.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, SOPs, and knowledge base articles.

Primary Skills:

• Palo Alto Networks (PAN-OS, Panorama)
• Cisco ASA
• Cisco Firepower (FTD/FMC)
• irewall Policy Management
• AT, ACL, Routing & Switching
• VPN Technologies (IPSec/SSL VPN)

Secondary Skills:

• Cisco Routers & Switches
• Network Segmentation
• IDS/IPS
• F5 Load Balancer
• AWS/Azure Network Security
• Splunk, SolarWinds, Infoblox
• Python scripting for automation (preferred)

These skills align with network security engineer profiles referencing Palo Alto, Cisco Firepower/ASA, VPNs, routing, switching, cloud security, Splunk, SolarWinds, and related security technologies.

Experience & Qualifications:

• 6–10+ years of experience in Network Security / Firewall Administration.
• Minimum 4+ years of hands-on experience with Palo Alto and Cisco Firewall platforms.
• Strong understanding of TCP/IP, Routing Protocols, VPNs, and Security Architecture.
• Experience in Incident, Change, and Problem Management processes.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, or related field.

Preferred Certifications:

• PCNSE (Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer)
• CCNP Security / CCIE Security
• Cisco Firepower Certifications
• ITIL Foundation

Key Competencies:

• Advanced Troubleshooting
• Incident & Problem Management
• Security Risk Assessment
• Stakeholder Communication
• Documentation & Knowledge Management
• Team Mentoring and Technical Leadership