Principal Security Engineer - PAN and Panorama

Calance US is seeking a Principal Security Engineer focused on PAN and Panorama to lead the strategy, engineering, optimization, and modernization of the global firewall infrastructure. This hands-on role drives enterprise-wide policy governance, standardization, and operational excellence across regions and environments. The position is onsite in Charlotte, NC with a competitive hourly rate of $70-$85, offering the chance to shape security posture, automation, and governance while collaborating with cross-functional teams to advance enterprise security programs.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical lead and subject matter expert for the enterprise firewall environment.
• Design, implement, and maintain global firewall standards, policies, and governance processes.
• Lead enterprise-wide firewall policy standardization initiatives across multiple regions, business units, and environments.
• Establish scalable firewall design patterns that support cloud, data center, and hybrid infrastructures.
• Drive continuous improvement of firewall architecture, security controls, and operational processes.
• Own firewall rule lifecycle management, including design, implementation, validation, and ongoing maintenance.
• Develop and maintain policy sequencing strategies to improve performance, manageability, and security effectiveness.
• Perform rule reviews, policy tuning, cleanup, and recertification activities.
• Identify redundant, orphaned, shadowed, and overly permissive firewall rules.
• Implement best practices for change management, policy governance, and compliance requirements.
• Analyze firewall environments to identify gaps, risks, inefficiencies, and operational bottlenecks.
• Conduct assessments and develop strategic roadmaps to modernize firewall operations and architecture.
• Drive the adoption of advanced security capabilities including application-based policies, threat prevention, DNS security, SSL inspection, and zero-trust principles.
• Partner with architecture and engineering teams to improve segmentation and security posture across the enterprise.
• Evaluate and implement automation opportunities to improve firewall operations, policy deployment, compliance reporting, and vulnerability remediation.
• Leverage AI, analytics, and machine learning technologies where applicable to streamline security workflows and enhance operational efficiency.
• Identify opportunities to reduce manual effort through intelligent automation and infrastructure-as-code methodologies.
• Collaborate with vulnerability management teams to automate risk-based remediation and policy recommendations.
• Act as the senior technical advisor for firewall engineering initiatives and strategic security programs.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance on firewall and network security best practices.
• Work closely with network engineering, cloud, infrastructure, security operations, and compliance teams.
• Influence enterprise security standards and contribute to long-term cybersecurity strategy.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Information Security, Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in network security engineering within large-scale enterprise environments.
• 5+ years of advanced experience with Palo Alto Networks Firewalls and Panorama.
• Experience with firewall policy design and implementation.
• Security policy optimization and sequencing expertise.
• Network segmentation and threat prevention technologies.
• Enterprise security architecture and multi-site/global firewall deployments.
• TCP/IP networking, routing and switching, and network security architectures.
• Hybrid and cloud networking models, and Zero Trust security frameworks.
• Experience leading enterprise security modernization initiatives.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and communication skills with ability to translate technical findings into strategic recommendations for leadership.
• Certifications: PCNSA, PCNSE, and Palo Alto Cybersecurity Professional certifications.

Technologies

• Palo Alto Networks Firewalls
• Panorama
• Python
• Ansible
• Terraform
• AWS
• Azure
• GCP
• APIs
• SIEM
• SOAR