Senior Firewall Engineer

Novalink Solutions LLC•Carson City, NV

4d•Onsite

About The Position

NDOT is seeking a Senior Firewall Engineer to provide dedicated management, administration, and engineering support for its hybrid network security environment. This role is responsible for the day-to-day operation and continuous improvement of on-premise Fortinet firewalls and will also support Palo Alto Prisma SASE (cloud-delivered NGFW) as part of the agency’s evolving cloud security architecture. The engineer will ensure firewall policies are properly designed, implemented, maintained, and documented to support secure and reliable business operations. NDOT is currently engaged in a firewall modernization effort in partnership with a vendor, and this role will work closely with vendor engineering resources during implementation. The Senior Firewall Engineer will play a key role in operationalizing, maintaining, and supporting the environment post-implementation, ensuring long-term sustainability, performance, and security of firewall services. This position serves as the primary technical resource for firewall management, addressing a current gap in ownership and operational consistency. The contractor will be responsible for managing the full lifecycle of firewall rules, including intake, review, implementation, validation, and periodic cleanup to reduce risk and eliminate unnecessary or outdated access. The role also includes monitoring firewall performance and security events, supporting incident response efforts, and ensuring timely resolution of network security issues. In addition to operational responsibilities, the Senior Firewall Engineer will provide architectural guidance for network security across both on-premise and cloud environments. This includes designing and maintaining network segmentation, supporting secure connectivity for applications and users, and contributing to the maturation of NDOT’s cloud security capabilities, including SASE where applicable. The engineer will work closely with network, infrastructure, security, and application teams to ensure firewall policies align with business needs while maintaining strong security controls. A critical component of this role is documentation and process maturity. The contractor will develop and maintain clear, audit-ready documentation including firewall rules, network diagrams, and standard operating procedures. They will also support compliance efforts by aligning configurations with established security best practices and assisting with audit and risk mitigation activities.

Requirements

7+ years of hands-on experience in firewall engineering and network security operations
Strong experience managing Fortinet (FortiGate) firewalls in an enterprise environment
Proven ability to manage firewall rule lifecycles, including design, implementation, and optimization
Experience working in hybrid environments (on-premise and cloud)
Solid understanding of network protocols, segmentation, VPNs, and secure access design
Ability to analyze logs, troubleshoot issues, and support incident response activities
Experience developing and maintaining technical documentation and operational procedures
Strong collaboration skills and ability to work across technical teams and business units

Nice To Haves

Experience with Palo Alto technologies
Prisma SASE or cloud-delivered firewall experience
Certifications

Responsibilities

Provide dedicated management, administration, and engineering support for NDOT's hybrid network security environment.
Ensure day-to-day operation and continuous improvement of on-premise Fortinet firewalls.
Support Palo Alto Prisma SASE (cloud-delivered NGFW) as part of the agency’s evolving cloud security architecture.
Ensure firewall policies are properly designed, implemented, maintained, and documented.
Work closely with vendor engineering resources during firewall modernization implementation.
Operationalize, maintain, and support the firewall environment post-implementation.
Manage the full lifecycle of firewall rules, including intake, review, implementation, validation, and periodic cleanup.
Monitor firewall performance and security events.
Support incident response efforts and ensure timely resolution of network security issues.
Provide architectural guidance for network security across both on-premise and cloud environments.
Design and maintain network segmentation.
Support secure connectivity for applications and users.
Contribute to the maturation of NDOT’s cloud security capabilities, including SASE.
Work closely with network, infrastructure, security, and application teams.
Develop and maintain clear, audit-ready documentation including firewall rules, network diagrams, and standard operating procedures.
Support compliance efforts by aligning configurations with established security best practices.
Assist with audit and risk mitigation activities.