IT Network Engineer

IT Network Engineer - Consultant
Location: Columbia, SC- Hybrid
Work Location: Hybrid (2 days in office, 3 days remote).
Closing Date & Time: 07/28/2026 5:00 PM
Duration: 12 Months from projected start date
Max Submissions per Vendor: 2

The State of South Carolina is looking for a Network Engineer - Consultant (Senior Palo Alto Cloud Engineer)
Why is this position open: New position - The Sr. Palo Alto Cloud Engineer will collaborate with Product Owners, Applications Owners, Network and Security teams to design and deliver optimal solutions for large-scale app and infrastructure cloud solutions. This is not a developer role. This position requires demonstrated proficiency in Palo Alto cloud firewalls with a similar level of expertise in cloud architecture and design.

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 at the time of submission).

Required Skills
Education

• College Degree or 10+ years of experience as a Palo Alto Cloud Engineer

Certification

• Holds one of the following certifications: Palo Alto, AWS, or Azure certification

Skills

• 10 years' experience in network security and engineering
• 5+ years of hands-on experience designing, deploying, scaling, upgrading, troubleshooting, and optimizing Palo Alto VM-Series firewalls in both AWS and Azure cloud environments
• Experience with Panorama management, security policy design, threat prevention tuning, and log analysis required
• Must demonstrate ability to architect zero-trust controls using Palo Alto technology
• 5 years' experience in deploying, configuring, and maintaining BIG-IP F5 LTM

Preferred Skills
Certifications

• PCNSA, PCNSE
• SC100 - Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect
• AWS Certified Cloud Solutions Architect

Skills

• Palo Alto Firewalls
• INFOBLOX DDI
• F5 LTM/ASM/I-RULES
• FORESCOUT
• OPSWAT METADEFENDER/ICAP
• Prisma Cloud
• Cisco Umbrella

Scope of the Project
The Sr. Palo Alto Cloud Engineer will collaborate with Product Owners, Applications Owners, Network and Security teams to design and deliver optimal solutions for large-scale app and infrastructure cloud solutions. Candidates should possess proficiency in both public and hybrid cloud models. Exceptional consulting skills and the ability to clearly derive desired states from customer requests are essential. The role also requires the ability to work with delivery teams. Importantly, this role is hands-on in delivery, requiring active involvement in the implementation and execution of security solutions. This is not a developer role.
This position requires demonstrated proficiency in Palo Alto cloud firewalls with a similar level of expertise in cloud architecture and design.

Position: Senior Palo Alto Cloud Engineer

Daily Duties / Responsibilities

• Design and deploy highly available, scalable, and secure cloud infrastructure with a focus on AWS and Azure Cloud.
• Manage and deploy VM-Series Palo Alto firewalls in Azure and AWS cloud.
• Manage and deploy F5 BIG-IP LTM and ASM in Azure and AWS cloud.
• Analyze and resolve configuration issues in development, test, and production environments.
• Familiar with major security compliance frameworks and building effective monitoring, logging, and auditing of production systems to ensure compliance with mandated compliance policies (e.g., ARC-AMP (formerly known as MARS-E), NIST, HIPAA, PII, SOX, PCI, CMMC, CUI, etc.).
• Experience implementing secure (zero trust) infrastructure in cloud.
• Security experience with state and local government customers.

Required Skills (Rank in Order of Importance)

• 10 years' experience in network security and engineering.
• Minimum 5 years hands-on experience designing, deploying, scaling, upgrading, troubleshooting, and optimizing Palo Alto VM-Series firewalls in both AWS and Azure cloud environments.
• Experience with Panorama management, security policy design, threat prevention tuning, and log analysis required.
• Must demonstrate ability to architect zero-trust controls using Palo Alto technology.
• 5 years' experience in deploying, configuring, and maintaining BIG-IP F5 LTM.

Preferred Skills (Rank in Order of Importance)

• Palo Alto Firewalls
• F5 LTM
• F5 ASM
• F5 I-RULES
• INFOBLOX DDI
• FORESCOUT
• OPSWAT METADEFENDER/ICAP
• BIG-IP F5 XC
• Prisma Cloud
• Cisco Umbrella

Preferred Certifications

• PCNSA, PCNSE
• SC100 - Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect
• AWS Certified Cloud Solutions Architect

Required Education

• College Degree or 10+ years of equivalent experience as a Palo Alto Cloud Engineer
• Must hold Palo Alto, AWS, or Azure certification

Additional Skills / Duties

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Self-starter.
• Explicit experience in Panorama templates and device groups, Global Protect in cloud, and high availability VPN/traffic routing on VM-Series.
• Experience designing and maintaining infrastructure in AWS/Azure.
• Cloud security design, operations, and automation experience.
• Documentation of security tools, deployment configuration, incident reports, etc.

This About our Company DataSoft Technologies is a highly recognized provider of professional IT Consulting
services in the US. Founded in 1994, DataSoft Technologies, Inc. provides staff
augmentation services for Information Technology and Automotive Services.

Our team member benefits include:
Paid Holidays/Paid Time Off
(PTO)
Medical/Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Short Term/Long Term Disability
Life Insurance
401 (K)