Principal Palo Alto Networks Architect

General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with company match

Health and wellness packages

Professional growth opportunities and,

Job summary

General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc. seeks a Principal Palo Alto Networks SME to lead design, deployment, and optimization of advanced network security architectures across NGG environments.

The role provides senior technical leadership in firewall engineering, network segmentation, threat prevention, and Zero Trust integration, with deep, hands-on Palo Alto expertise guiding enterprise-scale solutions from strategy through implementation.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in network security engineering with Palo Alto experience.
• Strong background in design and deployment of large-scale firewall infrastructures.
• Hands-on experience with Panorama, firewalls (virtual and hardware), GlobalProtect, Threat Prevention, URL Filtering and WildFire.
• Experience with Zero Trust frameworks and micro-segmentation strategies.
• Ability to create detailed engineering documentation and lead complex deployments.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of briefing leadership and stakeholders.
• Secret Security Clearance required.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, engineering, and configuration of Palo Alto firewalls across NGG environments.
• Own the design and deployment of security policies, NAT, app-ID, user-ID, and threat profiles.
• Architect and optimize Panorama for centralized management, multi-tenant configurations, and scale.
• Implement Zero Trust segmentation aligned with NGG security requirements.
• Support migration from legacy security stacks to Palo Alto platforms.
• Develop high-quality design artifacts: HLDs, LLDs, diagrams, runbooks, implementation plans.
• Conduct advanced troubleshooting, packet analysis, and platform tuning.
• Advise program leadership on best practices, risks, and roadmap recommendations.
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams (network, cloud, cyber, operations).
• Provide mentorship to junior engineers and serve as authoritative technical decision maker.

Skills

Palo Alto Networks

Zero Trust

Firewall architecture

Networking concepts

Security policy design

Technical leadership

Mentorship

Secret Security Clearance

Communication skills

Education

BA/BS or equivalent

Tools

Panorama

GlobalProtect

WildFire

Threat Prevention

URL Filtering

Job description

General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc. seeks a Principal Palo Alto Networks SME to lead design, deployment, and optimization of advanced network security architectures across NGG environments.

The role provides senior technical leadership in firewall engineering, network segmentation, threat prevention, and Zero Trust integration, with deep, hands-on Palo Alto expertise guiding enterprise-scale solutions from strategy through implementation.