Security Practice Lead & Technical Architect (NGFW/SASE)

Virtual Service Operations; Fort Meade (MD); On-site; USD 110,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Virtual Service Operations is seeking an experienced Palo Alto Networks Practice Manager / Technical Lead to stand up and grow our PANW security practice across DoD and federal markets, supporting a DoD customer in Reston, VA / Fort Meade, MD.

You will define service offerings across NGFW, Panorama, Prisma SASE, and SD‑WAN, establish architecture standards and delivery playbooks, lead early technical engagements yourself, and grow the engineering team behind the practice.

Qualifications

• Hands-on Palo Alto Networks expertise with NGFW and Panorama at scale.
• Experience building or scaling a technical practice or service line.
• Strong understanding of DoD security frameworks and classified networks.

Responsibilities

• Define and stand up VSO's Palo Alto Networks Security practice — service offerings, delivery methodology, and technical standards across NGFW, Panorama, Prisma SASE, and SD‑WAN.
• Design and review architectures for NGFW deployments, Panorama‑managed environments, and Prisma SASE/SD‑WAN rollouts.
• Serve as the senior technical escalation point and hands‑on lead for early engagements while the delivery team is being built out.
• Develop repeatable playbooks, reference architectures, and migration methodologies for legacy‑to‑NGFW and SASE/SD‑WAN transitions.
• Recruit, hire, mentor, and technically develop engineers as the practice grows, building bench strength and internal certification paths.
• Support sales and account teams with technical scoping, solution design, and proposal content for Palo Alto opportunities.
• Maintain relationships with Palo Alto Networks account and SE teams to stay ahead of product direction and partner resources.
• Track practice technical health — delivery quality, engineer utilization, and skill gaps — and report progress to VSO leadership.

Skills

Palo Alto Networks NGFW

Panorama

SD-WAN

Prisma SASE

Team leadership

Architecture design

Pre-sales support

DoD knowledge

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science | MIS | Business

Tools

VM Series

PA-1400/3400/5500/7000

Job description

Virtual Service Operations is seeking an experienced Palo Alto Networks Practice Manager / Technical Lead to stand up and grow our PANW security practice across DoD and federal markets, supporting a DoD customer in Reston, VA / Fort Meade, MD.

You will define service offerings across NGFW, Panorama, Prisma SASE, and SD‑WAN, establish architecture standards and delivery playbooks, lead early technical engagements yourself, and grow the engineering team behind the practice.