Koniag Data Solutions, a Koniag Government Services company, is seeking an experienced
Palo Alto Integration Engineer (Mid) to support enterprise network security operations and IT administrative and operational support services for a federal government client. This position requires an active security clearance or the ability to obtain and maintain a government background investigation and all requisite IT access authorizations prior to performing work. Specific clearance requirements will be confirmed at time of offer. Primary work will be performed at the client site and approved remote/telework locations.
This role serves as an important technical function responsible for the engineering, implementation, administration, and operational support of enterprise Palo Alto Networks security platform capabilities across a complex, geographically distributed federal IT environment spanning on-premises infrastructure, cloud platforms, and hybrid network environments.
The ideal candidate is a technically proficient and security-focused network security engineer with solid, hands-on experience across key Palo Alto Networks platforms-including Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW), Panorama, and Prisma Access-combined with a strong understanding of enterprise network security concepts, threat prevention capabilities, and Federal cybersecurity compliance requirements. This individual must possess the technical depth, operational discipline, and collaborative mindset required to contribute meaningfully to the engineering and sustained operation of enterprise-grade Palo Alto Networks security capabilities under the guidance of senior engineers while demonstrating the initiative and growing expertise needed to take on increasing technical responsibility over time.
The Palo Alto Integration Engineer (Mid) will serve as a contributing technical engineer within the program's network security team, supporting the engineering, implementation, administration, and continuous improvement of enterprise Palo Alto Networks security infrastructure under the technical leadership of the Senior Palo Alto Integration Engineer. This individual works closely with network engineers, security engineers, cloud operations teams, and Government stakeholders to ensure Palo Alto Networks platforms are properly configured, reliably operated, and continuously improved in alignment with enterprise security requirements, Federal cybersecurity frameworks, and Zero Trust Architecture objectives.
Principal responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
Next-Generation Firewall Engineering & Administration- Assist in and independently execute the engineering, implementation, and administration of enterprise Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) infrastructure across perimeter, internal segmentation, data center, and cloud-attached deployment contexts under the technical guidance of the Senior Palo Alto Integration Engineer.
- Develop, implement, and maintain NGFW security policies, including application-based policies using App-ID, user-based policies using User-ID, and content inspection policies using Content-ID, ensuring policies are aligned with enterprise security requirements and least-privilege access control principles.
- Configure and maintain NGFW security profiles, including antivirus, anti-spyware, vulnerability protection, URL filtering, file blocking, WildFire malware analysis, and DNS security profiles, tuning profiles to balance threat prevention effectiveness with operational performance.
- Assist in the design and implementation of SSL/TLS decryption policies, ensuring encrypted traffic is inspected in accordance with security requirements while appropriately managing certificate trust and performance considerations.
- Support NGFW security policy lifecycle management activities, including policy review cycles, rule base optimization, shadow rule identification, and policy documentation updates.
- Troubleshoot NGFW connectivity, performance, and security policy issues, conducting root cause analysis and implementing corrective actions to restore service or resolve security gaps within defined SLA requirements.
- Execute firewall rule changes, security profile updates, and configuration modifications in accordance with the change management process, preparing implementation plans, test procedures, and rollback documentation for CAB submission.
- Generate and analyze NGFW logs, traffic reports, and threat prevention reports to support security monitoring, incident investigation, and operational performance analysis activities.
Panorama Management Platform Administration- Assist in and support the administration of the Panorama centralized management platform, ensuring managed NGFW devices are properly onboarded, configured, and maintained through Panorama under the guidance of senior engineers.
- Implement and maintain Panorama device group and template configurations, ensuring management policies are consistently applied across managed NGFW instances in alignment with the enterprise security policy framework.
- Support the development and maintenance of Panorama-based policy configurations, including shared policies, pre-rules, and post-rules, ensuring policy management practices are consistent, auditable, and aligned with enterprise security requirements.
- Monitor Panorama platform health and managed device connectivity, identifying and escalating platform issues and managed device synchronization failures that may impact policy consistency or management capability.
- Support Panorama platform upgrades, patches, and configuration changes, assisting in change preparation, testing, and documentation activities under the guidance of the Senior Palo Alto Integration Engineer.
- Leverage Panorama logging and reporting capabilities to generate operational reports, compliance evidence artifacts, and security dashboards supporting program leadership and Government stakeholder visibility requirements.
Prisma Access Administration & Support- Support the administration and maintenance of Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) capabilities, assisting in the configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting of cloud-delivered security services for distributed users and locations.
- Assist in the configuration and maintenance of GlobalProtect remote access configurations, including gateway settings, agent configurations, and authentication integrations, ensuring remote users receive consistent security policy enforcement.
- Monitor Prisma Access service health, connectivity, and security effectiveness, identifying and escalating service disruptions, performance issues, and security policy gaps to senior engineers for resolution.
- Support the troubleshooting of GlobalProtect connectivity issues, analyzing logs and diagnostic data to identify root causes and implement corrective actions under the guidance of senior engineers.
- Assist in the maintenance and optimization of Prisma Access security policies, URL filtering configurations, and threat prevention profiles.
Threat Prevention & Security Operations Support- Monitor and analyze NGFW and Panorama threat prevention logs, WildFire analysis results, and security event data, identifying security events requiring escalation, investigation, or policy response in accordance with defined monitoring procedures.
- Support the tuning and optimization of threat prevention profiles and security policies based on threat log analysis, false positive identification, and security effectiveness assessment under the guidance of senior engineers.
- Assist in the monitoring and management of WildFire integration, ensuring unknown file and URL submissions are processed correctly and that WildFire verdicts are effectively operationalized within NGFW security policies.
- Contribute to threat prevention effectiveness reviews, identifying opportunities to improve prevention coverage, reduce false positives, and strengthen security policy enforcement across managed platforms.
- Support security incident response activities involving Palo Alto Networks platforms, providing platform-level log analysis, policy investigation, and configuration support to containment and remediation efforts.
- Assist in the development and maintenance of threat prevention effectiveness metrics, contributing platform-level data to program security performance reports and dashboards.
Prisma Cloud Support- Assist in the administration and monitoring of Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud cloud security posture management (CSPM) capabilities, supporting the monitoring of cloud security posture and configuration compliance across enterprise cloud environments.
- Monitor Prisma Cloud alerts and compliance findings, triaging findings and escalating high-severity cloud security posture issues to senior engineers and the cloud operations team for remediation.
- Assist in the maintenance of Prisma Cloud compliance policy configurations, alert thresholds, and reporting settings under the guidance of the Senior Palo Alto Integration Engineer.
- Support the integration of Prisma Cloud findings with the enterprise SIEM platform and vulnerability management program, assisting in the development of data integration workflows and remediation tracking processes.
Cortex XDR Support- Assist in the administration and monitoring of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR extended detection and response capabilities, supporting the monitoring of endpoint and network telemetry and the triage of XDR-generated alerts.
- Monitor Cortex XDR alert queues and detection output, triaging alerts and escalating confirmed or suspected security incidents to senior analysts and the incident response team in accordance with defined escalation procedures.
- Assist in the maintenance of Cortex XDR prevention policies, behavioral threat protection configurations, and agent management activities, ensuring agent coverage is comprehensive and policies are consistently applied.
- Support the development and maintenance of Cortex XDR detection content, assisting senior engineers in developing and tuning BIOC rules and behavioral analytics configurations under the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
Change Management & Documentation- Prepare and submit Palo Alto Networks change requests for Change Advisory Board (CAB) review, developing implementation plans, technical impact assessments, rollback procedures, and test plans for assigned platform changes.
- Coordinate with the change management process to ensure all assigned Palo Alto Networks platform changes are properly reviewed, approved, scheduled, and implemented without degradation to security posture or service availability.
- Conduct post-implementation reviews for assigned platform changes, documenting outcomes and lessons learned to support continuous improvement of change execution practices.
- Develop and maintain Palo Alto Networks operational documentation, including runbooks, troubleshooting guides, configuration records, and standard operating procedures, ensuring documentation is current and accurately reflects platform configurations.
- Maintain accurate and current platform configuration records, change logs, and operational documentation in the program's knowledge management and documentation repositories.
Compliance & ATO Support- Ensure Palo Alto Networks platforms are configured and maintained in compliance with applicable Federal cybersecurity frameworks and requirements, including NIST SP 800-53, FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST SP 800-207 Zero Trust Architecture, OMB M-22-09, applicable DISA STIGs, and client-specific cybersecurity policies.
- Assist in ATO activities for Palo Alto Networks platforms, including security control implementation documentation, system security plan (SSP) contribution, continuous monitoring evidence collection, and audit artifact preparation.
- Support regular Palo Alto Networks platform configuration compliance assessments, assisting in the identification and remediation of configuration deviations from applicable security baselines and DISA STIGs.
- Support vulnerability management activities for Palo Alto Networks platforms, tracking platform vulnerabilities identified through vendor advisories and vulnerability scanning and coordinating remediation activities under the guidance of senior engineers.
Education and Experience:Required:- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Network Engineering, or a related field from an accredited college or university. Equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience may be considered.
- Minimum of 3-5 years of hands-on experience in network security engineering, firewall administration, or a closely related discipline, with at least 2-3 years of demonstrated hands-on experience engineering and administering Palo Alto Networks NGFW platforms in an enterprise environment.
- Demonstrated hands-on experience implementing and administering Palo Alto Networks NGFW security policies, threat prevention profiles, and Panorama management configurations.
- Familiarity with Federal cybersecurity compliance frameworks, including NIST SP 800-53, FISMA, and applicable DISA STIGs, as applied to network security platform administration.
- Active security clearance or the ability to obtain and maintain a government background investigation and all requisite IT access authorizations. Specific clearance requirements will be confirmed at time of offer.
Preferred:- Prior experience supporting Palo Alto Networks platform engineering and administration on a federal IT program.
- Hands-on experience with Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access SASE platform administration and GlobalProtect configuration.
- Exposure to Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud and/or Cortex XDR platform administration.
Required Skills and Competencies:- Solid technical proficiency with Palo Alto Networks NGFW platform administration, including security policy development using App-
