Palo Alto Panorama SME

Job Title: Palo Alto Panorama SME Network Segmentation Specialist

Location: Remote

Type: Contract

Key Responsibilities:

1. Serve as Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Palo Alto Networks technologies especially Panorama.
2. Lead network segmentation initiatives using Palo Alto firewalls across data centers cloud and branch environments.
3. Design and implement security policies NAT VPNs (IPSec GlobalProtect) and App-ID/User-ID features.
4. Configure and manage Panorama for centralized policy deployment logging and automation.
5. Conduct pre-deployment assessments gap analysis and post-migration validation.
6. Translate legacy firewall rulesets into Palo Alto syntax and logic.
7. Collaborate with network security and cloud teams to integrate Palo Alto solutions.
8. Develop and refine Method of Procedures (MOPs) SOPs and migration playbooks.
9. Perform troubleshooting root cause analysis and performance tuning.
10. Ensure compliance with security best practices (NIST CIS Benchmarks) and enterprise change control processes.
11. Mentor junior engineers and support internal knowledge transfer.

Required Qualifications:

1. 10 years in enterprise network engineering and firewall administration.
2. 5 years hands-on experience with Palo Alto firewalls and Panorama.
3. Proven experience in network segmentation firewall migrations and rulebase optimization.
4. Strong knowledge of Layer 2/3 networking VLANs OSPF/BGP NAT VPNs and HA configurations.
5. Experience with packet capture analysis log correlation and SIEM tools.
6. Familiarity with cloud networking (Azure).
7. Experience with Terraform Ansible or other automation tools.

Preferred Certifications:

1. PCNSE (Palo Alto Certified Network Security Engineer)