Palo Alto Network SME

Palo Alto Network SME

Duration: 8/11/2025 12/31/2025

Part Time: 30 hours per week

Location: NYC - Hybrid: Resource will need to be onsite approximately 2 times per week at various client locations across NYC. In addition, there will be night and weekend work to support the implementation.

Travel: Requires periodic on-site visits to client's locations across NYC.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide subject matter expertise (SME) in Palo Alto firewall technologies, including Panorama, App-ID, User-ID, threat prevention, and global protect VPN.
• Review and validate current firewall configurations, security policies, NAT rules, and routing across various locations.
• Design and implement optimized Palo Alto firewall policies aligned with security best practices and institutional requirements.
• Collaborate with network leads at the various locations to plan and execute firewall migrations, including cutover planning and rollback procedures.
• Analyze and translate existing firewall rulesets to Palo Alto syntax and logic.
• Conduct pre-migration assessments, gap analysis, and post-migration validation and testing.
• Assist in developing and refining Method of Procedures (MOPs), migration playbooks, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Participate in troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and resolution of complex network or firewall-related issues.
• Support knowledge transfer and mentoring of internal technical staff.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in enterprise network engineering and firewall administration.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with Palo Alto Networks firewalls, including centralized management with Panorama.
• Proven experience in complex firewall migrations, security policy design, and rulebase optimization.
• Strong background in Layer 2/3 networking, VLANs, routing protocols (OSPF, BGP), NAT, VPNs, and high availability configurations.
• Familiarity with security best practices (NIST, CIS Benchmarks) and modern threat prevention mechanisms.
• Experience with packet capture analysis, log correlation, and advanced troubleshooting techniques.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and collaboration skills.
• Palo Alto certifications preferred (PCNSE, PSE, or equivalent).

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree.
• A minimum of 15+ years of related experience.
• 2+ years of supervisory experience OR 5+ years of program/project management experience.