Firewall Engineer

Leidos; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 92,000 - 167,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos is seeking a seasoned Firewall Engineer to support the CESO GSM-O II task order in Arlington, VA. The role requires 10+ years in firewall engineering, hands-on Palo Alto experience, and DoD security clearances. Onsite work is required with occasional travel in the Washington DC area.

The candidate will lead security posture improvements, remediation of misconfigurations, and coordination with DISA CESO teams, ensuring ITIL/DevSecOps aligned processes and service delivery excellence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 8+ years of directly relevant experience.
• 5+ years of hands-on Cisco / Palo Alto Firewall experience in both engineering and operations.
• Active DoD Top Secret security clearance; eligible for TS/SCI; CI/Poly may be required.

Responsibilities

• Identify and remediate misconfigurations, security gaps, and firewall/load balancer issues.
• Provide Tier 3 support to operations network administrations.
• Maintain HW/SW components at vendor-supported levels.
• Support Continuity of Operations (COOP).
• Conduct monthly firewall assessments and generate reports with improvement recommendations.
• Develop/participate in After Action Reports (AARs).
• Provide guidance on Palo Alto devices within DISA CESO enterprise architecture.
• Engage with DISA CESO and mission partner groups; adhere to STIGs/JSIG.

Skills

Palo Alto Firewall

Panorama

VPN Configuration

Firewalls

AWS VM

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Panorama

Cisco

AWS

Job description

Description

The DISA IT Operation within Leidos’ Digital Modernization Group is seeking a Firewall Engineer to support the Compartmented Enterprise Services Office (CESO) Task Order for the GIG Service Management – Operations II (GSM-O II) contract. This person should be a seasoned, self-motivated, professional with at least 10 years of hands-on engineering and testing experience in virtualized and cloud environments. A skilled engineer knowledgeable and experienced in developing and implementing Firewall/Networking Security Solutions.

With the CESO program, the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) is looking to transform the existing Secure Web Services (SWS) environment, used to provide secure information sharing to the community, into a more mature service offering to meet the DoD and IC community. As part of this task order, Leidos will manage the commercial cloud migration and fully automate the continuous development & continuous integration environment, fourth estate consolidation, professionalize services – ITIL/DevSecOps based processes, improve the customer experience 1st call resolution, and achieve development of a service catalog for Defense Working Capital Fund (DWCF) Model.

This position is 100% onsite in Arlington, VA with occasional/situational travel within the Washington Metro Area.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Identify and remediate misconfigurations, conflicting rules, security gaps, firewall and load balancer security issues, optimize rule-sets, and enhance the overall security posture and performance of Firewalls and Load Balancers
• Provide Tier 3 support to members of the operations network administrations.
• Maintain all HW and SW components at vendor supported levels.
• Support mission-critical Continuity of Operations (COOP).
• Conduct a minimum of two (2) assessment of firewall each month on CESO and customer devices and generate assessment reports and provide recommendations for improvements.
• Support the creation of network device performance and traffic utilization monthly reports.
• Develop and/or participate in After Action Reports (AARs)
• Provide expert advice and direction regarding the management and operation of all Palo Alto devices in the DISA CESO enterprise architecture.
• Interact with the customer point of contact to set objectives/goals based on Palo Alto Networks technologies and available technology roadmap for architecture and design discussions.
• Evaluate current technologies and processes associated with DISA CESO to identify gaps.
• Provide requirements and strategies for future cybersecurity operations.
• Active participant in meetings with DISA CESO and mission partner working groups.
• Adhere to applicable DOD STIGs, DISA applicable orders, and JSIG policy, guidelines, and regulations.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree and 8+ years of directly relevant experience. Add'l experience may be considered in lieu of degree.
• 5+ years of hands-on Cisco / Palo Alto Firewall experience in both engineering and Operations and maintenance roles.
• Strong knowledge of Palo Alto concepts and best practices:
  • Panorama Installation
  • Panorama HA Config
  • Panorama Template and Template Stacks
  • Panorama Policy creation and push to group of Firewalls and Verify Push
  • Palo Alto Route configuration
  • Palo Alto IPSec Site to Site VPN Config and Troubleshooting
  • Palo Alto VM in AWS
  • Palo Alto IPS Configuration
  • Palo Alto Virtual Router / Systems
  • Palo Alto Firewall HA
• Experience working in a high op-temp, Top Secret environment.
• Candidate must possess an active DOD Top Secret level security clearance, and be eligible to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI
• Candidate must be willing to take and maintain a CI/Poly
• 8570 IAT Level II Baseline Certification (e.g. CCNA Security, CySA+, GICSP, GSEC, Security+ CE, CND, SSCP)

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experienced with DISA and DISA’s support to mission partners

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

September 22, 2026

Pay Range:

Pay Range $92,300.00 - $166,850.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline onlyand not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

About Leidos

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $16.7 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Pay and Benefits

Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available at www.leidos.com/careers/pay-benefits.

Securing Your Data

Beware of fake employment opportunities using Leidos’ name. Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information during any part of the employment application process (i.e., ask you for money), nor will Leidos ever advance money as part of the hiring process (i.e., send you a check or money order before doing any work). Further, Leidos will only communicate with you through emails that are generated by the Leidos.com automated system – never from free commercial services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or via WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. If you received an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information (e.g., about you or your previous employer), and you are concerned about its legitimacy, please make us aware immediately by emailing us at [e-mail].

If you believe you are the victim of a scam, contact your local law enforcement and report the incident to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.