| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Information Technology |
| Level | Mid level |
| Reports to | IT Security Manager |
| Direct reports | None |
| Experience | 3 to 6 years in network or firewall administration |
Firewall Engineer job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Firewall Engineer
Department: Information Technology
Reports to: IT Security Manager
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Firewall Engineer configures and maintains the firewalls that control traffic between a company's networks, the internet, branches, data centres and cloud accounts. They write and review rules, set up site-to-site and remote access VPNs, manage NAT, IPS and URL filtering, upgrade firmware and troubleshoot blocked traffic. The job sits under the IT security or network security manager in IT firms, banks, BPOs and enterprises. A good Firewall Engineer keeps the rule base clean and documented, changes nothing without a ticket and fixes connectivity issues quickly.
Key responsibilities
- Implement firewall rule requests from approved tickets after checking source, destination, ports and business justification.
- Configure site-to-site VPNs for branches, partners and cloud connections, and remote access VPN for employees.
- Set up NAT, IPS signatures, URL filtering, application control and SSL inspection policies.
- Review the rule base every quarter to remove unused, shadowed and overly broad rules.
- Troubleshoot blocked traffic, VPN drops and slowness using packet captures and firewall logs.
- Upgrade firmware and signatures in maintenance windows, taking a configuration backup before each change.
- Maintain high availability pairs and test failover between firewall units.
- Forward firewall logs to the SIEM and investigate suspicious traffic flagged by the SOC.
- Keep network diagrams, rule documentation and change records current for audits.
- Work with OEM support on bugs, hardware failures and licence renewals.
Requirements
- B.E., B.Tech, B.Sc IT, BCA or a diploma in electronics or networking
- Fortinet NSE 4, Palo Alto PCNSA or PCNSE, or CCNP Security certification
- 3 to 6 years in network or firewall administration
KRAs and KPIs for a Firewall Engineer
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Change accuracy | Zero outages caused by rule changes, with every change traced to an approved ticket |
| Request turnaround | Standard rule requests implemented within 1 working day of approval |
| Rule base hygiene | Unused and overly broad rules reviewed and cleaned up every quarter |
| Firmware currency | All firewalls on vendor-supported firmware, with critical patches applied within 15 days |
| VPN availability | Branch and partner VPN tunnels up for at least 99.5 percent of the month |
| Audit readiness | No audit finding on firewall change control or rule justification |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: FortiGate and FortiManager, Palo Alto Panorama, Check Point SmartConsole, Wireshark, Syslog server or SIEM, ServiceNow or another ticketing tool.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Network Security Engineer, Security Architect, IT Security Manager
Interview questions for a Firewall Engineer
- A user cannot reach an application through the firewall. Walk me through your troubleshooting.
- What is the difference between source NAT and destination NAT? Give an example of each.
- How do you set up a site-to-site VPN with a partner that uses a different firewall vendor?
- How would you clean up a rule base of 3,000 rules without breaking anything?
- What checks do you do before a firmware upgrade on an HA pair?
- Someone asks for an any-to-any rule for one week. How do you respond?
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What does a firewall engineer do?
A firewall engineer manages the firewalls that control network traffic in and out of a company. They implement approved rule changes, set up site-to-site and remote access VPNs, configure NAT, intrusion prevention and web filtering, upgrade firmware, troubleshoot blocked traffic and remove old rules. They also keep records ready for audits.
Which firewall certification is best in India?
Fortinet NSE 4 is widely taken because FortiGate firewalls are common in Indian companies, and Palo Alto PCNSA or PCNSE is valued in banks and large enterprises. CCNP Security suits Cisco environments. Choose the vendor your target employers run, and practise on a lab or virtual firewall.
What is the difference between a firewall engineer and a network security engineer?
A firewall engineer concentrates on firewall platforms: rules, VPNs, NAT and upgrades. A network security engineer covers a wider area, including network access control, proxies, segmentation design, DDoS protection and security monitoring of the network. Many network security engineers begin as firewall engineers.