Palo Alto Cloud Engineer - Contract - Columbia, SC

Palo Alto Cloud Engineer Location: Columbia, SC Hybrid (2 days in office, 3 days remote). Interview Process: 1 round, Virtual/Online Duration: 12 Months Employment Type: Contract Experience Required: 10+ Years Candidate location: Candidate MUST be a NC, GA, SC resident and willing to relocate to SC prior to starting the role at their own expense.

(Preference for resources local to South Carolina). Project Scope: We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Palo Alto Cloud Engineer to design, implement, and support secure cloud infrastructure across AWS and Azure environments. This is a hands-on engineering role focused on deploying and managing cloud security solutions, including Palo Alto VM-Series Firewalls and F5 technologies.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in cloud security architecture, Zero Trust implementations, and enterprise firewall management.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and deploy secure, scalable, and highly available cloud infrastructure in AWS and Azure.
• Deploy, configure, and manage Palo Alto VM-Series Firewalls in cloud environments.
• Configure and support F5 BIG-IP LTM and ASM solutions.
• Troubleshoot and resolve cloud infrastructure and security configuration issues.
• Design and implement Zero Trust security architectures.
• Configure Panorama for centralized firewall management.
• Develop and maintain security policies, threat prevention, logging, and monitoring solutions.
• Ensure cloud environments comply with security and regulatory standards.
• Work closely with infrastructure, networking, security, and application teams.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, deployment guides, and incident reports.

Required Skills

& Experience:

• 10+ years of Network Security and Engineering experience.
• Minimum 5 years of hands-on experience with Palo Alto VM-Series Firewalls in both AWS and Azure.
• Strong experience with: Panorama Management Security Policy Design Threat Prevention Log Analysis
• Experience designing and implementing Zero Trust security architectures.
• Minimum 5 years of experience deploying and supporting F5 BIG-IP LTM.
• Strong knowledge of AWS and Azure cloud infrastructure.

Preferred Skills

• Palo Alto Firewalls
• F5 BIG-IP LTM
• F5 ASM
• F5 i. Rules
• Infoblox DDI
• Forescout
• OPSWAT Meta. Defender/ICAP
• BIG-IP F5 XC
• Prisma Cloud
• Cisco Umbrella Preferred Skills:
• PCNSA or PCNSE
• Microsoft SC-100 Cybersecurity Architect
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect Education Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field OR 10+ years of equivalent professional experience as a Palo Alto Cloud Engineer. Must hold at least one Palo Alto, AWS, or Azure certification.