Palo Alto Network SME | Albany, New York, United States Pay rates: $120 - 130/hr 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. Start Date: 8/11/2025 Duration: 8/11/2025 - 12/31/2025 Part Time: 30 hours per week > 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.