Firewall Engineer – Level 2

Published 29 of July

  • 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


Minimum requirements

• 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