Firewall Engineering Architect

Leidos is seeking an experienced Firewall Engineering Architect to provide senior-level technical leadership, architectural oversight, and strategic direction for NASA’s enterprise security and network modernization initiatives. This role is central to designing, evolving, and optimizing the firewall, security, and perimeter protection services that safeguard NASA’s Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Mission Network, and cloud-connected environments. The selected candidate will serve as the lead architect for NASA’s Firewall Engineering domain, guiding a highly skilled team responsible for advanced security design, migration planning, policy development, and the integration of next-generation firewall technologies across NASA’s enterprise. This position requires deep technical expertise in firewall and network security engineering, strong leadership capabilities, and the ability to collaborate effectively with NASA senior leadership, program management, cybersecurity leads, and cross-functional engineering teams. Key Responsibilities Lead the Firewall Engineering Architecture Team, providing technical direction for enterprise firewall, IDS/IPS, and security control design and integration. Define NASA’s enterprise firewall architecture strategy, ensuring alignment with zero-trust, mission-security, and risk management requirements. Serve as the senior technical authority and escalation point for complex firewall, perimeter security, and cross-domain protection issues. Develop modernization roadmaps and standards for firewall performance, resiliency, rule/policy lifecycle management, and automation. Oversee large-scale firewall migrations, data center and cloud integrations, and enterprise segmentation initiatives. Partner with NASA and Leidos leadership to support proposals, technical volumes, and Basis of Estimates (BOEs) related to security architecture efforts. Drive innovation in areas such as firewall automation, orchestration, SDN-based security, cloud-native firewalls, and threat visibility enhancements. Establish governance processes for rule validation, configuration baselines, policy stewardship, and continuous monitoring. Mentor engineers, establish training pipelines, and promote technical rigor and standardization across the Firewall Engineering discipline. Deliver data-driven technical briefings and executive-level recommendations to NASA and Leidos senior management. Basic Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related field (Master’s preferred). 8-12+ years of experience in enterprise network security or firewall engineering, with 8-10+ years serving in senior engineering, architectural, or leadership roles. Proven experience designing and managing large-scale, mission-critical firewall and perimeter security infrastructures. Deep expertise with next-generation firewall platforms (e.g., Palo Alto, Fortinet, Cisco, Juniper) and enterprise-grade security services. Strong understanding of network architecture, routing/switching, zero-trust principles, intrusion detection/prevention, and segmentation strategies. Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary engineering teams in complex, high-visibility operational environments. Experience supporting large IT infrastructure programs, including proposal development and BOE creation. Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder engagement skills. U.S. Citizenship required; must be eligible for NASA or Federal security clearance. Preferred Qualifications Experience supporting government, aerospace, or NASA environments. Industry certifications such as CISSP, CCNP Security, JNCIS/JNCIP Security, PCNSE, or equivalent. Familiarity with cloud security architecture, cloud-native firewalls, and SDN-based security models. Experience leading geographically distributed engineering or security teams. Pay Range Pay Range: $92,300.00 – $166,850.00. The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law. Pay and Benefits Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available at Commitment to Non-Discrimination All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws. #J-18808-Ljbffr