Sr. Technical Support Engineer, Strata, US Government

Palo Alto Networks•Reston, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

At Palo Alto Networks®, we’re united by a shared mission—to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you’re in the right place. Who We Are In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us! We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes. Job Summary To comply with U.S. federal government requirements, U.S. citizenship is required for this position. You will work firsthand with our valued Public Sector customers, supporting their complex post-sales concerns where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth evaluation of many factors. You’re a critical thinker in understanding the methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for obtaining results. You’ll enjoy networking with key contacts outside your area of expertise, with a strong ability to explain complex technical issues to both non-technical and technical professionals. As part of our U.S. Government (USG) team, you will be a designated customer advocate, assisting in providing tailored support, weekly reviews, root cause analysis for critical issues, release reviews, upgrade planning, and quarterly business reviews. You will provide personalized support and become deeply familiar with your customer’s implementation and business priorities, proactively driving best practices to help continuously improve their security posture. You will regularly participate in technical discussions with cross-functional teams, creating an environment of transparency that ultimately leads to better products, stronger partnerships, and enhanced cybersecurity outcomes. Your quick thinking and proactive support provide the fast assistance our Public Sector clients need to keep their environments secure—meaning you’ll need to move quickly, think strategically, and provide expert technical assistance in high-pressure situations.

Requirements

Minimum of 5 years of network security experience, with a preference for experience supporting government or public sector clients
Expertise in TCP/IP, advanced knowledge of LAN/WAN technologies, and general routing/switching
Understanding of packet flow across multiple OSI layers
Extensive experience troubleshooting Remote Access VPN solutions
Ability to independently debug broad, complex, and unique networks with mixed media and protocols
Proficiency with network troubleshooting tools
Consistently maintains rigorous case management practices, ensuring thorough documentation and timely updates
Experience interfacing with firewalls and firewall technology. Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) experience preferred

Nice To Haves

Experience working with U.S. government, federal, state, or local agencies
Virtualization experience (AWS, Azure, VMware, OpenStack)
Experience with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux (debugging, editing registries, plist, etc.)
Multi-vendor interoperability exposure
Authentication protocols – LDAP, TACACS+, Radius, SAML
BS in computer science, information technology, computer architecture, electrical engineering, mathematics, or related experience—or equivalent military experience

Responsibilities

Offer advanced-level technical assistance to our Public Sector customers, ensuring prompt resolution of complex issues and providing tailored solutions to optimize their security infrastructure
Effectively communicate technical solutions to technical and executive stakeholders, fostering trust and credibility within government agencies and organizations
Provide tailored troubleshooting, configuration guidance, and best practices, with an understanding of government compliance and security requirements
Take ownership of support cases from initiation to resolution, ensuring meticulous documentation of all troubleshooting steps, timely updates, and comprehensive closure summaries in the ticketing system
Conduct multi-vendor troubleshooting on complex customer engagements, ensuring a seamless experience for public sector partners
Utilize fault isolation and root cause analysis skills to provide post-sales technical support, configuration, troubleshooting, and industry best practices to customers
Be a subject matter expert on core technologies of Palo Alto Networks product line, particularly in environments relevant to public sector customers
Identify product defects (code, environment) via lab replication using network simulation, lab automation, performance testing, and validation tools
File bug reports with the engineering team and develop test plans and best practices with Quality Assurance teams to improve overall software and hardware quality per release cycle
Author Technical Support Bulletins and technical documentation in the Knowledge Base for training materials, marketing collateral, manuals, and problem-solving guides
Travel to customer sites in the event of a critical situation to expedite resolution as required
Provide support that includes mandatory weekend, holiday shift work and on-call support. Support includes a blend of as-needed and rotational coverage, which is subject to change.