? Role Purpose

The Level 2 Firewall Engineer ensures the stability, security, automation, and continuous improvement of the enterprise firewall infrastructure.

The engineer handles complex incidents and problems, designs and maintains automation for firewall lifecycle operations, and ensures all configurations align with the CMDB as the authoritative Source of Truth.

The role bridges operational excellence and infrastructure engineering, applying DevOps principles to security infrastructure.

? Key Responsibilities

1?? Incident & Problem Management (Level 2 Scope)

Handle escalated incidents from Level 1
Troubleshoot complex firewall issues (routing, NAT, clustering, performance)
Perform deep packet analysis when required
Conduct root cause analysis (RCA)
Identify recurring issues and open Problem records
Participate in post-mortem analysis and improvement plans
Participate in Level 2 on-call rotation

2?? Firewall Engineering & Automation

Design and maintain automation for:
Software upgrades (CheckPoint, Fortinet, Open-Source)
Cluster upgrades and failover validation
Policy deployment pipelines
Backup & restore procedures
Implement infrastructure changes through:
Ansible / AWX
Git-based workflows
CI/CD pipelines
Ensure infrastructure changes are reproducible and version-controlled
Contribute to Git repositories and review pull requests
Maintain configuration as code principles

3?? Configuration Governance & CMDB Integrity

Ensure all firewall objects and rules align with CMDB data
Enforce Source of Truth model (e.g., NetBox or equivalent)
Avoid manual configuration drift
Implement validation checks before deployment
Contribute to compliance reporting

4?? Firewall Platform Expertise

? Check Point Software Technologies

R8x architecture
Management Server / MDS
SmartConsole
ClusterXL
Policy installation & troubleshooting

? Fortinet

FortiGate
FortiManager
HA clusters
Security Fabric integration

? Open-Source Firewalls

nftables / iptables
pfSense
OPNsense
Strong understanding of Linux networking stack

5?? DevOps & Engineering Practices

Infrastructure as Code mindset
CI/CD pipeline integration
Unit testing for automation scripts
Use of Git branching strategies
Observability integration (logs, metrics, alerts)
Secure coding practices for automation

6?? Upgrade & Lifecycle Management

Plan and execute:
Major version upgrades
Hotfix deployment
Security patching
Automate pre-checks and post-checks
Maintain upgrade playbooks
Document rollback strategies

7?? Security & Compliance

Ensure firewall configurations align with security policies
Support audit evidence collection
Support vulnerability remediation
Ensure secure configuration standards, and best practices
Participate in security hardening initiatives

? Technical Skills Required

Mandatory

5+ years in enterprise firewall engineering
Strong knowledge of:
CheckPoint R8x
FortiGate
Solid understanding of:
TCP/IP
Routing (BGP, OSPF basics)
NAT
VPN technologies
Experience with Linux networking
Experience with automation (Ansible preferred)
Git proficiency
Strong troubleshooting skills

Nice to Have

Experience with containerized firewall deployment
API-driven firewall configuration
Experience with CI/CD tools (GitLab CI, etc.)
Experience integrating firewalls with cloud (AWS)
Experience in high-availability architectures

? Soft Skills

Analytical mindset
Ability to perform structured RCA
Autonomous and proactive
Strong documentation discipline
Ability to mentor Level 1 engineers
Clear communication during incident bridges