Firewall Operations Engineer

SkyePoint Decisions•Springfield, MD

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

SkyePoint Decisions is seeking a Network Engineer to support a Department of State customer. The position primarily supports operations and maintenance of foreign post network integrations with the DoS Core and other integrations across a large, complex network infrastructure and cloud environments, with engineering and design responsibilities as warranted. The role is hybrid, with approximately three days onsite at the customer’s discretion, and may be located in Beltsville, Maryland, or Springfield, Virginia. The regular shift is Tuesday through Saturday, 3:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., subject to mission priorities. During the approximately 6–8-week training period, the schedule is onsite Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The engineer provides Tier 2 support for perimeter devices, including firewalls, proxies, and mail transport agents. The work involves monitoring and responding to Firewall Operations incidents and service requests; implementing firewall rules and policies; troubleshooting security and network devices; performing maintenance and health checks; documenting operations; and coordinating network changes with Bureaus and Agencies. The engineer also supports the Diplomatic Security Computer Incident Response Team, maintains procedures and operational documents, and escalates issues to Tier 3 staff when required. SkyePoint Decisions is a cybersecurity, critical infrastructure and operations, and application development and maintenance IT service provider headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, with operations across the United States. The company describes itself as an established small business, certified to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and appraised at CMMI Level 3 for Services and Development. It emphasizes collaborative teamwork, individual performance and accountability, employee flexibility, and community engagement.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and at least five years of experience, or a master’s degree and at least three years of experience; additional experience may be accepted in lieu of a degree.
In-depth experience using Palo Alto firewalls and Panorama monitoring tools to troubleshoot and configure firewall infrastructure.
Strong understanding of networking, proxy, and packet-filtering technologies.
At least 3–5 years of IT customer support experience at Tier I and/or Tier II.
Hands-on experience supporting the monitoring and configuration of firewall/DMZ infrastructure, including network and application firewall packet-filtering technologies such as Palo Alto, Palo Alto virtual firewall (cloud), FortiGate, Azure Firewall, Cloudflare, Cisco Email Security Appliances, A10 load balancers, and proxy devices.
U.S. citizenship.
Active interim Secret clearance and ability to obtain a Top Secret clearance.

Nice To Haves

CLI experience is preferred.
Experience using network monitoring tools such as NeuralStar.
Experience with TCP/IP network implementation and troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

Provide Tier 2 monitoring, management, and troubleshooting support for perimeter devices, including firewalls, proxies, and mail transport agents.
Monitor the ServiceNow application for Firewall Operations incidents and service requests.
Implement firewall rules and policies, and troubleshoot Palo Alto, cloud Palo Alto, and FortiGate firewalls; Cisco Email Security Appliances (ESA); A10 load balancers; proxy platforms; URL filtering across platforms; and network traffic captures.
Escalate issues to Tier 3 staff as required and monitor issues throughout their problem life cycle.
Perform recurring maintenance, including device reboots and software upgrades, on devices managed by the Firewall Operations Team.
Record and report on firewall operations, utilization, and maintenance.
Collaborate across Bureaus and Agencies to implement and repair network changes involving perimeter security devices.
Support the Diplomatic Security Computer Incident Response Team by implementing block requests for IP addresses, websites, and email addresses.
Update architecture diagrams using Visio.
Monitor perimeter security devices and perform health checks.
Draft, coordinate, and publish outage notifications as required.
Update shift logs and provide reports to leadership as needed.
Maintain standard operating procedures, work instructions, and other working documents.
Attend calls requiring Firewall Operations Team participation, including troubleshooting calls.

Benefits

Certification incentive program.
Paid time off (PTO).
Floating federal holiday options.
Health insurance options, including HMO and high-deductible plans with Health Savings Accounts.
Flexible Spending Accounts.
Dental insurance.
Vision insurance.
Short- and long-term disability insurance.
Life insurance.
401(k) matching.
Flexible work environment.