Senior Technical Support Engineer (CNGFW)

Palo Alto Networks; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 103,000 - 167,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a Senior Technical Support Engineer to serve as a premier technical authority for our most high-value enterprise accounts. You will be a critical thinker who provides advanced post-sales support for complex, multi-layered infrastructures and acts as a key technical contact for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

This role requires rapid, thoughtful action in high-pressure situations to keep customer environments secure, with responsibilities spanning

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in network operations, infrastructure engineering, or enterprise cybersecurity support.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, or equivalent practical experience.
• Deep expertise in OSI L1–L7 layers, TCP/IP, and advanced routing protocols (BGP, OSPF).
• Expert command of IPSEC, SSL/TLS, NAT, and PKI.
• Ability to explain complex technical issues clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences, including C-suite stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide advanced post-sales technical support for platinum-tier customers.
• Use AI-based tools to reduce effort and improve resolution times.
• Meet and exceed enhanced response time SLAs for mission-critical systems.
• Apply fault isolation and RCA across complex environments.
• Partner with Development, QA and Product Management to identify defects and influence product serviceability.
• Reproduce issues in a lab to isolated critical product bugs.
• Author Technical Support Bulletins and mentor engineers to scale the team’s expertise.
• Translate intricate engineering issues into precise business terms for executives during active crises.
• Review customer context and topology data and maintain the shared context database.

Skills

Network ops

Infra engineering

Cybersecurity support

OSI/TCPIP

Security protocols

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IT

Tools

VMware ESXi

KVM

AWS

Azure

GCP

OCI

Job description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks®, we’re united by a shared mission—to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you’re in the right place.

Who We Are

In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us!

We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes.

Job Summary

As a Senior Technical Support Engineer, you will serve as a premier technical authority for our most high-value enterprise accounts.

You are a critical thinker who provides advanced post-sales support for complex, multi-layered architectural challenges that require in-depth evaluation of mission-critical infrastructures.

You will serve as a key technical contact, adept at detailing difficult issues to both technical and non-technical professionals. This role is dedicated to customers who manage mission-critical infrastructures and require guaranteed response times and enhanced services, offering a truly differentiated level of support.

Your quick thinking and support to our clients provides the fast assistance they need to keep their environments secure – which means you’ll need to move quickly, thoughtfully, and provide technical assistance as needed (often, in high-pressure situations).

Key Responsibilities

• Elite Case Resolution: Provide advanced post-sales technical support, including expert-level configuration, troubleshooting, and best practices for Platinum-tier customers.
• AI-Driven Support : Ability to effectively use and improve AI based support tools to reduce customer effort and improve resolution times.
• SLA Stewardship: Meet and exceed enhanced response time SLAs for mission-critical systems where downtime is not an option.
• Advanced Diagnostics: Apply expert fault isolation and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to diagnose structural crises across complex environments.
• Engineering Partnership: Partner directly with Development, QA, and Product Management to identify product defects, steer roadmaps, and influence product serviceability.
• Lab Simulation: Systematically reproduce complex customer issues in a lab environment to qualify and isolate critical product bugs.
• Knowledge Leadership: Author Technical Support Bulletins (TSBs), advanced architecture whitepapers, and mentor junior engineers to scale the team’s collective expertise.
• Executive Advocacy: Translate intricate engineering issues into precise, business-impact terms for enterprise customer executives during active crises.
• Context Stewardship: Review and validate documented customer context and topology data prior to initial case response, and maintain the shared context database with environment, architecture, and engagement details as they are identified throughout the case lifecycle.
• Relationship Continuity : Leverage documented account context to establish rapid working rapport with customer technical and executive stakeholders, ensuring consistent customer experience independent of individual engineer assignment.

Operational Requirements:

To ensure 24/7 continuous coverage for our global Platinum customers, this role requires:

• Weekend/Holiday Coverage: Mandatory weekend and holiday shift work as dictated by rotational engineering coverage.
• Shift Flexibility: A five-day work schedule that includes one weekend day (e.g., Sunday–Thursday or Tuesday–Saturday).
• On-Call: Participation in an on-call rotation to address urgent, high-priority customer emergencies.

Qualifications

Must have Qualifications

• Experience: 5+ years of progressive experience in network operations, infrastructure engineering, or enterprise cybersecurity support.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, or equivalent practical experience.
• Networking Mastery: Deep expertise in OSI L1–L7 layers, TCP/IP, and advanced routing protocols (BGP, OSPF).
• Security Proficiency: Expert command of IPSEC, SSL/TLS, NAT, and PKI.
• Communication: Proven ability to explain complex technical issues clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences, including C-suite stakeholders.

Preferred Cloud & Virtualization (VM-Series & Cloud NGFW) Qualifications:

• Working knowledge on Virtualization hypervisors((VMWare ESXi, KVM) and Public cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP or OCI)
• Deep Understanding of VPCs, Subnetting, Route Tables, and Internet Gateways (IGW).
• Understanding of cloud-native load balancing and scaling mechanisms, such as Gateway Load Balancing (GWLB) and Transit Gateway
• Understanding of Azure VNets, subnetting, peering, virtual WAN (vWAN) hub architectures, User defined routes (UDR) and Azure application gateway.
• Experience with competitor firewall products from vendors like Cisco, Checkpoint, Juniper, Fortinet, or Zscaler.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/com‑missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here (https://benefits.paloaltonetworks.com/) .

$103,400.00 - $167,200.00/yr

Our Commitment

We’re trailblazers that dream big, take risks, and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

We aim to provide reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at [e-mail] .

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship?: Yes