Senior Network Engineer – Load Balancer​/Firewall Specialist

Position: Senior Network Engineer – Load Balancer / Firewall Specialist
Responsibilities Peraton is seeking an experienced Senior Network Engineer specializing in load balancing and firewall technologies to support enterprise network infrastructure and security operations. This individual will serve as a subject matter expert (SME) in application delivery, traffic management, and network security, with a primary focus on Palo Alto Networks firewalls and enterprise load balancing solutions. The Senior Network Engineer will lead the design, deployment, administration, and optimization of these technologies to ensure secure, reliable, and high performing network services across distributed and hybrid cloud environments.

The ideal candidate will bring hands on experience with Palo Alto Networks next generation firewalls and F5 BIG IP or comparable application delivery platforms, along with strong networking fundamentals, security policy management, and advanced troubleshooting skills.

This position requires full time, on site presence at one of the designated locations in Ashburn, VA;
Springfield, VA; or Orlando, FL.Day to Day

Roles and Responsibilities:

Architect, deploy, and manage enterprise load balancing platforms: F5 BIG-IP (LTM, GTM/DNS, ASM, APM), Citrix ADC (Net Scaler), HAProxy, NGINX, or AWS/Azure load balancers

Design and maintain Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) infrastructure with a primary focus on Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS, as well as Fortinet Forti Gate, Cisco Firepower/FTD, or Check Point Develop and enforce firewall rulesets, security policies, NAT configurations, and zone-based access controls using Palo Alto Panorama for centralized policy management across distributed deployments

Configure and manage Palo Alto-specific security features:
App-, User-, Content-, Security Profiles (Antivirus, Anti-Spyware, Vulnerability Protection, URL Filtering, Wild Fire)
Deploy and manage Palo Alto Global Protect for remote access VPN and mobile workforce security

Configure and optimize load balancing algorithms, health monitors, persistence profiles, SSL offloading, and iRules/policies

Manage SSL/TLS certificate life cycles, including termination, re-encryption, and certificate management platforms

Implement and maintain Web Application Firewall (WAF) policies — including Palo Alto Prisma Cloud and F5 ASM — to protect against OWASP Top 10 and application-layer threats

Manage Palo Alto Panorama templates, device groups, and log forwarding at scale across multi-site deployments

Support high availability (HA) architectures including active/active and active/passive clustering for both firewalls and load balancers

Integrate load balancing and firewall solutions with hybrid and multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Perform firewall rule base audits, cleanup, and optimization to reduce attack surface

Conduct traffic analysis and packet capture to diagnose complex application and connectivity issues

Collaborate with application, Dev Ops, and security teams to onboard new services and define traffic policies

Lead incident response for firewall- and load balancer-related outages and security events

Participate in an on-call rotation to provide 24/7 support for critical infrastructure

Mentor junior and mid-level engineers on firewall and ADC architecture and operations

Maintain up-to-date documentation: topology diagrams, rule justifications, runbooks, and change records

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree and 8 years of experience, a master's degree and 6 years of experience, an associate's degree and 10 years of experience, or a high school diploma or equivalent and 12 years of experience.

Must be a U.S. Citizen and eligible to obtain the required DHS CBP clearance.

Minimum of 5 years of hands on network engineering experience, including at least 2 years…