Palo Alto Integration Engineer - Mid

VIATEQ Corporation•Washington, DC

2d•$110,000 - $140,000•Hybrid

About The Position

VIATEQ Corporation is hiring a mid-level Palo Alto Integration Engineer to support enterprise network security operations and IT administrative and operational support services for a federal government client. The role engineers, implements, administers, and supports Palo Alto Networks security capabilities across a geographically distributed environment spanning on-premises infrastructure, cloud platforms, and hybrid networks. The engineer contributes to the network security team under the technical leadership of the Senior Palo Alto Integration Engineer and collaborates with network and security engineers, cloud operations teams, and Government stakeholders. The position focuses on Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Panorama, and Prisma Access, with additional support for Prisma Cloud and Cortex XDR. Work includes implementing and maintaining security policies and threat-prevention capabilities; troubleshooting connectivity, performance, and policy issues; monitoring logs, alerts, and platform health; preparing and documenting changes; and contributing to incident response and continuous improvement. The engineer also supports compliance with federal cybersecurity requirements and Zero Trust objectives, including ATO documentation, configuration assessments, and evidence collection. Primary work is performed at the client site in Washington, DC, and approved remote or telework locations. An active security clearance, or the ability to obtain and maintain a government background investigation and required IT access authorizations, is necessary before performing work. Specific clearance requirements will be confirmed at offer. Compensation is $110,000–$140,000, depending on experience, location, and other factors.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, cybersecurity, network engineering, or a related field from an accredited college or university; an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience may be considered.
3–5 years of hands-on experience in network security engineering, firewall administration, or a closely related discipline.
At least 2–3 years of demonstrated hands-on experience engineering and administering Palo Alto Networks NGFW platforms in an enterprise environment.
Hands-on experience implementing and administering Palo Alto Networks NGFW security policies, threat-prevention profiles, and Panorama management configurations.
Familiarity with NIST SP 800-53, FISMA, and applicable DISA STIGs as applied to network security platform administration.
Active security clearance, or the ability to obtain and maintain a government background investigation and all required IT access authorizations.
Technical proficiency with Palo Alto NGFW administration, including App-ID, User-ID, Content-ID, threat-prevention profiles, SSL decryption policy management, and troubleshooting.
Experience administering Panorama, including device onboarding, template and device-group configuration, and policy deployment.
Strong understanding of enterprise networking concepts, including routing, switching, VLANs, IPsec and SSL VPN technologies, network segmentation, and firewall zone architectures.
Familiarity with Prisma Access administration, including GlobalProtect remote access, cloud-delivered security policy management, and connectivity troubleshooting.
Knowledge of NIST SP 800-53, FISMA, NIST SP 800-207, OMB M-22-09, and applicable DISA STIGs.
Understanding of Zero Trust Architecture principles and their application to network security policy design and enforcement.
Experience preparing and executing firewall change requests, including implementation plans, rollback documentation, and CAB submission.
Proficiency analyzing NGFW logs, threat-prevention reports, and traffic data for security monitoring, incident investigation, and performance analysis.
Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, including diagnosing and resolving NGFW connectivity, performance, and security policy issues in a production enterprise environment.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to develop operational documentation, change request packages, and technical reports for technical and non-technical audiences.
Ability to work independently and as part of a cross-functional security engineering team, follow established procedures, and seek senior guidance on complex or ambiguous challenges.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience supporting Palo Alto Networks platform engineering and administration on a federal IT program.
Hands-on experience administering Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access and configuring GlobalProtect.
Exposure to Prisma Cloud and/or Cortex XDR administration.
PCNSA certification; strongly preferred.
PCNSE certification or active pursuit of the certification as a near-term professional development objective.
CompTIA Security+, CompTIA Network+, or an equivalent foundational cybersecurity or networking certification.
CISSP, GIAC Certified Enterprise Defender (GCED), or an equivalent cybersecurity certification.
CCNA, CCNP, or equivalent networking knowledge demonstrating broad enterprise networking expertise.
Hands-on experience with WildFire threat intelligence and malware analysis platform integration and operationalization.
Familiarity with Cortex XDR administration and alert triage.
Familiarity with Prisma Cloud administration and alert monitoring.
Experience with cloud security operations in AWS and/or Microsoft Azure Government environments, including cloud networking relevant to Palo Alto virtual firewalls and Prisma Cloud.
Familiarity with MITRE ATT&CK and its application to threat-prevention policy development, detection-content tuning, and security posture assessment.
Basic Python, PowerShell, or Bash scripting for operational automation and Palo Alto Networks API integration.
Familiarity with the PAN-OS CLI for troubleshooting, diagnostic data collection, and configuration verification.
Experience integrating Palo Alto Networks logs with SIEM platforms, including syslog configuration, log-format documentation, and log-source onboarding.
Familiarity with FedRAMP continuous monitoring and ATO documentation as they relate to network security platform administration and compliance evidence.
Familiarity with Section 508 requirements for security dashboards and reporting tools delivered under federal contracts.
Experience supporting security incident response involving network security platforms, including log analysis, traffic investigation, and policy-level containment.

Responsibilities

Engineer, implement, administer, and support enterprise Palo Alto Networks NGFW infrastructure across perimeter, internal segmentation, data center, and cloud-attached environments.
Develop and maintain NGFW security policies using App-ID, User-ID, and Content-ID, following enterprise security and least-privilege requirements.
Configure and tune security profiles, including antivirus, anti-spyware, vulnerability protection, URL filtering, file blocking, WildFire, and DNS Security.
Assist with SSL/TLS decryption policy design and implementation, including certificate trust and performance considerations.
Support security policy lifecycle management, including policy reviews, rule-base optimization, shadow-rule identification, and documentation updates.
Troubleshoot firewall connectivity, performance, and policy issues; conduct root-cause analysis and corrective actions within SLA requirements.
Prepare and execute firewall changes in accordance with change management processes, including implementation plans, test procedures, and rollback documentation for CAB submission.
Analyze NGFW logs, traffic reports, and threat-prevention reports for monitoring, investigations, and operational performance analysis.
Administer Panorama, including device onboarding, device groups, templates, shared policies, pre-rules, and post-rules; monitor platform health and managed-device connectivity.
Support Panorama upgrades, patches, configuration changes, reporting, compliance evidence, and security dashboards.
Administer and monitor Prisma Access and GlobalProtect configurations, including gateways, agents, authentication integrations, security policies, connectivity, and service health.
Monitor and analyze threat-prevention logs, WildFire results, and security events; identify issues for escalation, investigation, or policy response.
Assist with threat-prevention tuning, WildFire integration, incident response, and development of security effectiveness metrics.
Monitor Prisma Cloud posture alerts and compliance findings; assist with policy configuration and integration of findings with SIEM and vulnerability-management processes.
Monitor Cortex XDR telemetry and alerts; assist with prevention policies, agent management, detection content, BIOC rules, and behavioral analytics under senior engineer guidance.
Prepare change requests, technical impact assessments, implementation and test plans, and rollback procedures; coordinate review, approval, scheduling, and implementation.
Conduct post-implementation reviews and maintain runbooks, troubleshooting guides, configuration records, change logs, and operational documentation.
Configure and maintain Palo Alto Networks platforms in accordance with applicable federal cybersecurity frameworks, client policies, and security baselines.
Assist with ATO activities, security-control documentation, SSP contributions, continuous-monitoring evidence, audit artifacts, compliance assessments, and remediation of configuration deviations.
Track platform vulnerabilities identified through vendor advisories and scanning, and coordinate remediation under senior engineer guidance.