Senior Firewall Engineer with Security Clearance

R
- Description Join the Leidos Homeland Sector and contribute to a high-impact international program delivering secure, next-generation private cloud capabilities within a NATO-secured environment. This senior-level role offers the opportunity to apply deep technical expertise to the design, integration, and hands-on implementation of enterprise backup, recovery, and cyber resilience solutions supporting a Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC). You will help deliver secure, resilient, and automated data protection capabilities across Enterprise Core Services (ECS), Client Provisioning Services (CPS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Service Management Control (SMC).

Working closely with infrastructure, virtualization, cybersecurity, and Dev Ops teams, you will support the full delivery lifecycle—from solution design and integration through site deployment, testing, disaster recovery validation, and customer acceptance. This position offers an exciting opportunity to work directly with international customers and technical partners, with approximately 25% travel to The Hague, Netherlands, and other NATO locations as needed to support solution integration, implementation, testing, and customer acceptance.

It is an ideal opportunity for a senior engineering leader interested in advancing mission-critical cloud capabilities while gaining valuable international program experience. Responsibilities:
* Lead the design, automation, integration, and hands-on implementation of enterprise firewall and network security solutions supporting private cloud SDDC modernization initiatives.
* Design and implement secure firewall architectures supporting Enterprise Core Services (ECS), Client Provisioning Services (CPS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Dev Ops platforms, and Service Management Control (SMC).
* Develop and implement network segmentation strategies using Palo Alto Networks, VMware NSX Distributed Firewall, Cisco security technologies, or equivalent enterprise security platforms.
* Design and integrate enterprise security controls, micro-segmentation, identity-based access controls, and defence-in-depth principles supporting NATO Operational Network (ON) security requirements.
* Collaborate with cybersecurity, networking, virtualization, and infrastructure engineering teams to integrate enterprise security services into platform solutions.
* Develop security automation using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Ansible, Terraform, APIs, or similar automation technologies to standardize firewall configuration and policy management.
* Integrate Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) security solutions into secure enterprise environments while ensuring compliance with NATO security policies, programme requirements, and customer security architecture.
* Develop and maintain firewall architectures, security designs, implementation plans, configuration standards, and engineering documentation.
* Participate in Agile development activities including sprint planning, technical reviews, security architecture reviews, and cross-functional engineering collaboration.
* Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance on enterprise firewall engineering, network security, defence-in-depth principles, and secure-by-design engineering practices.
* Travel to NATO sites to install, configure, integrate, validate, and troubleshoot enterprise firewall and network security solutions while supporting deployment, commissioning, security testing, and customer acceptance activities.
* Support cybersecurity planning, infrastructure modernization initiatives, security accreditation activities, and proposal development. Required Experience, Skills, and

Education:

* Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related discipline with 8–12 years of relevant experience, or Master's degree with 6–10 years of relevant experience.
* Active NATO Secret clearance (or higher).
* Demonstrated experience designing and implementing enterprise firewall and network security solutions.
* Strong experience with Palo Alto Networks firewalls, including policy management, threat prevention, and security architecture.
* Experience with VMware NSX Distributed Firewall, Cisco security technologies, or equivalent enterprise network security platforms.
* Strong understanding of enterprise security architecture, defence-in-depth principles, network segmentation, identity and access management, and secure systems design.
* Experience integrating firewall solutions into VMware private cloud, SDN, or hybrid cloud environments.
* Extensive experience with implementing security automation using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Ansible, Terraform, Python, or similar technologies.
* Strong understanding of enterprise networking, routing, switching, VPNs, PKI, and enterprise cybersecurity practices.
* Experience operating within Agile, SAFe, or Dev Sec Ops  delivery frameworks.
* Strong leadership, communication, stakeholder…