Firewall Assessment Analyst - DM

Experience Required

Location

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Firewall Assessment Analyst to support an ongoing series of firewall assessments and policy exception reviews. The role involves evaluating security and risk impacts of network access requests, reviewing firewall-specific configuration exceptions, and ensuring compliance with organizational security standards. The analyst will work closely with security, risk, and operations teams to validate, approve, or recommend alternatives for exception requests.

Key Responsibilities

• Review and assess

  firewall policy exception requests

  to determine security, network, and risk impact.
• Analyze requested traffic flows and evaluate feasibility, justification, and alignment with security policies.
• Perform

  firewall-specific configuration assessments

  for exceptions requiring rule changes, NAT updates, or policy modifications.
• Provide risk-based recommendations for approving, rejecting, or modifying exception requests.
• Conduct impact analysis for proposed changes on existing firewall policies, network segmentation, and security posture.
• Work with requesters to validate business requirements and ensure adequate compensating controls where needed.
• Support ongoing

  firewall assessments

  by identifying misconfigurations, rule violations, unused rules, and optimization opportunities.
• Document review outcomes with clear rationale, risk analysis, and remediation recommendations.
• Collaborate with SOC, Network, and Risk teams to ensure end-to-end visibility and alignment.
• Maintain familiarity with industry best practices (NIST, CIS Benchmarks, Zero Trust principles, etc.) for firewall governance.

Required Skills & Experience

• 5–7 years of hands-on experience

  in Firewall Administration, Security Operations, or Network Security Engineering.
• Strong understanding of

  firewall rule analysis

  , risk assessment, and exception management workflows.
• Experience with major firewall technologies:

• Checkpoint

• Palo Alto Networks

• Fortinet FortiGate

• Proficient in analyzing network traffic flows (TCP/UDP ports, protocols, DMZ, VPN, routing basics, NAT).
• Good understanding of security policy frameworks, segmentation principles, and risk-based access evaluation.
• Ability to interpret business requirements and map them to secure technical controls.
• Familiarity with firewall assessment tools and best practices for configuration review.
• Strong documentation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with firewall compliance audits and rulebase optimization.
• Understanding of SIEM/SOAR processes related to firewall activity.
• Exposure to cloud network security (AWS, Azure, GCP) is a plus.
• Relevant certifications such as

  CCSA/CCSE (Checkpoint), PCNSA/PCNSE, NSE4

  , Network+, Security+, or equivalent is a plus

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).