External Title Senior Network Engineer – Load Balancer​/Firewall Specialist

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

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 dedicated to load balancing, firewall administration, or both.

• Demonstrated hands on experience administering and troubleshooting Palo Alto Networks PAN OS firewalls and F5 BIG IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) or a comparable application delivery controller (ADC).

• Experience configuring firewall security policies, NAT, application aware controls, and centralized firewall management using Palo Alto Panorama or equivalent tools.

• Strong understanding of load balancing, application delivery, SSL/TLS termination, health monitoring, and high availability configurations.

• Solid networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, HTTP/S, DNS, routing protocols, and network address translation.

• Experience analyzing network traffic, troubleshooting complex connectivity…