Senior Consultant: Firewall Administrator - USC

Location: Onsite | Houston, TX 

Duration: 6 Months 

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Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Palo Alto and Cisco Firewall Administrator to manage and support our NGFW environment. This role is responsible for the day-to-day operation and security posture of Palo Alto and Cisco firewalls, including software upgrades, security policy development, NAT configuration, auditing, and ongoing optimization. The ideal candidate is comfortable working in a production enterprise environment and understands both security requirements and network operations realities.

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 5+ years of hands-on experience with Palo Alto and Cisco firewalls.

• Lifecycle Management: Strong experience with OS upgrades and lifecycle management.

• Technical Expertise: Proficiency in security policy and NAT design.

• Management Tools: Experience with Panorama and Firepower Management Center (FMC).

• Networking: Strong understanding of TCP/IP networking and routing.

Key Responsibilities

< data-path-to-node=14>Firewall Operations & Administration

• Administer Palo Alto and Cisco NGFWs (physical, virtual, and cloud-based).

• Perform software upgrades, hotfixes, and content updates.

• Monitor firewall health, performance, and capacity.

• Troubleshoot connectivity, performance, and security issues.

< data-path-to-node=16>Security Policy Management

• Design, implement, and maintain security policies using best practices.

• Manage App-ID, User-ID, Content-ID, URL Filtering, and Threat Prevention.

• Continuously review and optimize firewall rules to reduce risk and complexity.

< data-path-to-node=18>NAT & Traffic Engineering

• Design and manage source NAT, destination NAT, and policy-based NAT.

• Troubleshoot complex NAT and routing scenarios.

< data-path-to-node=20>Architecture & Design

• Support firewall architecture for data center, cloud, remote, and branch environments.

• Participate in network and security design reviews.

< data-path-to-node=22>Auditing & Compliance

• Perform firewall rule audits and access reviews.

• Support internal and external security audits.