Network Engineer

Description

SAIC is seeking a Network Engineer with a specialization in firewalls and Palo Alto technologies to join our team supporting the JEXC2 Program, based in Panama City, FL. The qualified candidate will provide remote and occasional on-site IT support to military and contractor personnel utilizing the JEXC2 Family of Systems (FoS), including managing secure network boundaries and firewall configurations across CONUS and OCONUS environments.

This role demands expert-level knowledge of Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls (NGFW) and extensive experience with BGP, particularly in multi-site and tactical network scenarios where dynamic routing plays a critical role in resilience and scalability.

Work hours in excess of 40 hours per week may be required to support 24/7 operations and mission-critical deployments. Travel to CONUS and OCONUS locations may be required up to 10%.

Job Responsibilities:

• Serve as Subject Matter Expert (SME) for firewall infrastructure, with a primary focus on Palo Alto NGFWs.
• Design, configure, and maintain BGP routing across secure enclave boundaries, including integration with firewalls, routers, and encryption devices.
• Configure and manage security policies, NAT rules, decryption policies, and zone-based segmentation for secure enclaves.
• Implement and maintain DISA STIGs and DoD Cybersecurity requirements for firewall systems.
• Manage the lifecycle of firewall rule sets, including audits, change control, and optimization.
• Support Layer 3 and Layer 7 traffic inspection, intrusion prevention systems (IPS), application-layer filtering, and logging.
• Integrate firewall platforms with SIEM, NMS, and log aggregation tools for threat monitoring and response.
• Maintain network performance and availability by troubleshooting, diagnosing, and resolving complex firewall-related issues.
• Provide SME-level guidance to junior network engineers on firewall best practices and secure architectures.

Qualifications

Qualifications:

• BS degree and 2 years of firewall or network security experience, or 4 years of related experience in lieu of a degree.
• Demonstrated experience with Palo Alto Networks firewalls in enterprise or DoD environments.
• Familiarity with network segmentation, IPSEC tunnels, and high availability (HA) configurations.
• Knowledge of routing protocols, VLANs, ACLs, VPN technologies, and inline network encryption devices (INE).
• Ability to implement and troubleshoot network security tools and technologies in secure, tactical network environments.
• Must hold or obtain CCNA certification within 90 days.
• DoD 8570 IAT Level II certification (e.g., Security+ CE, CCNA Security).
• Ability to travel CONUS/OCONUS up to 10% of the time.
• US Citizen
• Full Top-Secret clearance preferred; Full Secret clearance acceptable.