Senior Network Firewall Engineer / Architect

ECI•Dallas, TX

6d•$125,000 - $135,000•Remote

About The Position

We are seeking an experienced, hands-on Senior Network Firewall Engineer / Architect to provide dedicated support for a complex, global client network. The role is heavily focused on firewall administration, troubleshooting, security policy management, VPN connectivity, and firewall platform standardization, while also requiring strong enterprise networking fundamentals and architecture-level judgment. The environment includes a mix of Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet FortiGate firewalls, along with Cisco, Cisco Meraki, Aruba, HP ProCurve, and Ubiquiti networking technologies. The successful candidate will be comfortable taking ownership of day-to-day firewall work, partnering directly with client stakeholders, resolving inherited configuration and security issues, and supporting a longer-term transition toward a more standardized network environment.

Requirements

Significant hands-on experience administering and troubleshooting enterprise firewalls in production environments.
Strong practical experience with Palo Alto Networks firewalls, including policy and rule management, VPN troubleshooting, and Panorama.
Hands-on experience with Fortinet FortiGate firewalls and related VPN or management technologies.
Demonstrated ability to manage firewall permissions, security policies, rule bases, whitelisting, objects, and connectivity requirements.
Experience configuring and troubleshooting site-to-site VPNs and remote-access VPN solutions.
Strong enterprise networking fundamentals across TCP/IP, routing, switching, VLANs, LAN/WAN, wireless, DNS, and packet flow analysis.
Ability to troubleshoot complex connectivity and performance issues using logs, packet captures, traffic analysis, device health data, and systematic fault isolation.
Experience working in mixed-vendor, poorly standardized, or inherited network environments.
Experience preparing and executing controlled infrastructure changes, including implementation, validation, rollback, peer review, and stakeholder coordination.
Ability to communicate directly with client stakeholders, explain technical findings clearly, and operate with limited day-to-day supervision.
Strong technical documentation, prioritization, analytical, and collaboration skills.

Nice To Haves

Advanced Palo Alto Networks experience, certifications, or deep operational expertise.
Experience migrating firewalls from Fortinet to Palo Alto.
Experience with Fortinet SD-WAN and potential transition planning toward Palo Alto SD-WAN.
Experience standardizing office networks on Cisco Meraki switching and wireless.
Experience with Cisco ISE, 802.1X, network access control, or related security initiatives.
Experience supporting global clients, acquisitions, carve-outs, and newly integrated office locations.
Previous managed services, consulting, or customer-facing infrastructure experience.
Relevant advanced networking or security certifications are preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

Perform hands-on administration and troubleshooting of Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet FortiGate firewalls.
Create, review, modify, and troubleshoot firewall security policies, access permissions, rules, objects, and whitelisting requests.
Manage and troubleshoot site-to-site VPN tunnels and remote-access VPN services, including Palo Alto GlobalProtect and Fortinet FortiClient.
Use Palo Alto Panorama and Fortinet management tooling to manage devices, configurations, policies, and operational changes across the environment.
Assess existing firewall configurations for security gaps, inconsistencies, technical debt, and deviations from standards or best practices.
Support the gradual migration and standardization of firewall platforms, including movement from Fortinet toward Palo Alto where approved and funded.
Provide dedicated technical support and direct communication for a specific global client while collaborating with ECI network services, implementation, NOC, compliance, and principal engineering teams.
Support firewall and network integration for newly acquired offices and other merger-and-acquisition activity.
Plan and execute upgrades, technology refreshes, patching, configuration changes, and remediation activities through established change-management processes.
Troubleshoot network and application connectivity issues across firewalls, routing, switching, wireless, SD-WAN, circuits, DNS, and adjacent infrastructure.
Review traffic flows, logs, packet captures, latency, jitter, packet loss, utilization, and application policies to isolate performance or connectivity problems.
Produce and maintain accurate technical documentation, including network diagrams, firewall standards, rule documentation, implementation plans, validation steps, rollback plans, and client-facing recommendations.
Help assess inherited client environments, verify how systems are configured, and recommend practical remediation and modernization priorities.