Extended Expertise Consultant (Contract)

Palo Alto Networks; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 118,000 - 138,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

401K

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking an Extended Expertise Consultant to partner with customers, design, deploy, and optimize NGFW solutions on-site in Denver. You will lead hands-on implementations, conduct health checks, and guide configuration best practices to deliver measurable business outcomes.

The role focuses on migrating from Juniper SRX to Palo Alto NGFW, with strong emphasis on security policies and cross-functional collaboration with leadership teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years hands-on experience implementing or managing enterprise firewalls or security infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and optimize Palo Alto Networks NGFW solutions for end customers.

Skills

Palo Alto NGFW

Firewall deployment

Security policies

Network security architecture

Cloud integration (AWS/Azure/GCP)

SD-WAN integration

Threat prevention

Project leadership

Stakeholder communication

Mentoring customers

Tools

Panorama

Expedition

Cortex Data Lake

Job description

This role is a contract assignment at Palo Alto Networks. Contractors will not be employed by Palo Alto Networks but through their preferred payroll provider, Magnit.

Role Description

Palo Alto Networks is looking for an Extended Expertise Consultant (EEC) to partner directly with our end customers to design, deploy, and optimize Palo Alto Networks' next-generation firewall solutions. The EEC will serve as a trusted technical advisor, helping organizations protect their networks, applications, and data from emerging threats. This position will report to the Senior Manager, Consulting Services, and is a great opportunity for a talented individual who has the desire to associate with a fast-growing company in a truly international environment. This role requires an on-site presence (full-time) at our customer’s site in Denver, CO and requires reliable transportation to do so. Candidates must be in possession and maintain a valid driver’s license. Your expertise in network security architecture, policy management, and integration will ensure that customers achieve both operational excellence and strong security posture. You'll lead hands-on implementations, conduct health checks, and guide customers through configuration best practices that deliver measurable business outcomes. You thrive on problem-solving, continuous learning, and seeing your work make a tangible impact on customer success.

The EEC's efforts will be to assist the end client migrating from Juniper SRX to Palo NGFW.

Your Impact

• Expertise with Palo Alto Networks NGFW architecture, deployment, and operations in large-scale (service provider-would be nice) environments.
• Knowledge of Juniper architecture and the ability to translate Juniper configurations into Palo Alto best practices.
• Advanced understanding of Security Policies, NAT Policies, Application-ID, User-ID, Content-ID, and Zone-Based Security.
• Ability to redesign legacy port/protocol-based policies into application-aware security policies
• Strong knowledge of dynamic routing protocols including BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, static routing, route redistribution, and ECMP.
• Experience integrating Palo Alto firewalls into complex service provider routing environments with MPLS, EVPN/VXLAN, and large-scale IP transit architectures.
• Experience deploying Palo Alto NGFWs in active/passive and active/active high availability architectures.
• Experience implementing advanced threat prevention capabilities including IPS, Anti-Malware, URL Filtering, DNS Security, and WildFire
• Ability to perform firewall sizing, performance tuning, session analysis, and capacity planning for high-throughput environments.
• Experience with SCM for centralized management, templates, device groups, policy management, and operational workflows.
• Ability to lead cutovers during maintenance windows while minimizing customer impact and ensuring rapid rollback if required.
• Strong understanding of change management processes within large enterprise or service provider environments.
• Ability to mentor customer engineers on Palo Alto operational best practices following migration.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for both engineering and leadership audiences.
• Familiarity with cloud integrations (AWS, Azure, GCP) and hybrid network security architectures is a plus.

Your Experience

• 5+ years of hands-on experience implementing or managing enterprise firewalls or security infrastructure
• Deep understanding of Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Panorama, and related technologies (App-ID, User-ID, Content-ID, WildFire, and URL Filtering)
• Strong grasp of TCP/IP, routing, switching, NAT, VPNs, and Layer 7 inspection
• Familiarity with threat prevention, SSL decryption, and Zero Trust concepts
• Experience integrating NGFW solutions into cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) or SD-WAN environments is a plus
• Skilled in log and event analysis using Cortex Data Lake, Expedition, or equivalent tools
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills — comfortable engaging with both technical and executive stakeholders
• Proven ability to lead technical projects, manage multiple priorities, and deliver high-quality outcomes under tight deadlines

Compensation

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer, this is the pay range that Magnit reasonably expects to pay for this position: $118K/year to $138K/year. Please note that the compensation information in this posting reflects the salary only and does not include benefits. Magnit offers Medical, Dental, Vision and 401K. Magnit is not able to provide assistance to candidates requiring sponsorship or a visa for this position.

Information About Palo Alto Networks

At Palo Alto Networks, everything starts and ends with our mission: Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life. We have the vision of a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. These aren't easy goals to accomplish - but we're not here for easy. We're here for better. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we're looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.