Palo Alto Integration Technician, Junior

About the role

Location: Washington, DC / Northern Virginia – On‑Site. Work Schedule: Full‑Time, Remote, On‑site on occasion. Employment Type: Full‑Time. Digital Global Connectors (DGC) is seeking a Palo Alto Integration Technician, Junior to support the administration, monitoring, and day‑to‑day operation of enterprise Palo Alto Networks security infrastructure within a Federal Government IT environment. The ideal candidate has a strong foundation in networking and cybersecurity, excellent attention to detail, and a demonstrated interest in developing expertise in Palo Alto Networks technologies and Federal cybersecurity operations.

Responsibilities

• Palo Alto Platform Monitoring: Monitor Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Panorama, Prisma Access, and Cortex XDR platforms and dashboards; monitor firewall and platform health indicators (CPU/memory utilization, session capacity, interface status, HA synchronization); monitor Panorama device connectivity and policy synchronization; monitor Prisma Access service health and GlobalProtect connectivity; identify and promptly escalate platform health issues, service disruptions, configuration problems, and anomalous conditions; monitor log forwarding and data‑ingestion processes and identify potential gaps or failures; generate routine platform health, availability, and operational status reports.
• Firewall & Platform Administration: Perform routine Palo Alto Networks NGFW and Panorama administrative activities under direction of experienced engineers; assist with approved firewall rule changes, security profile updates, and configuration modifications; perform configuration backups, exports, log archival, and other routine platform maintenance; support administrative account provisioning, modification, and deprovisioning; monitor platform certificate expiration dates and assist with certificate renewal activities; assist with software, security‑content, application, and threat‑signature updates; support routine GlobalProtect administrative and user‑connectivity activities.
• Security Monitoring & Log Analysis: Monitor Palo Alto Networks traffic, threat prevention, URL filtering, and WildFire logs; perform initial triage of security alerts and events; collect logs and supporting information for investigation by senior security analysts and engineers; identify potential false positives and recurring security‑event patterns; assist senior personnel with improving monitoring and alerting procedures; generate routine security‑event and threat‑prevention reports.
• Change Management: Assist with preparation of Palo Alto Networks change requests for Change Advisory Board (CAB) review; help develop implementation steps, impact descriptions, rollback procedures, and testing documentation; assist with approved platform changes under supervision of senior engineers; perform defined post‑implementation testing and verification; maintain accurate change‑management documentation and records.
• Documentation & Knowledge Management: Develop and maintain platform configuration records and operational documentation; maintain records of software versions, licenses, hardware inventory, and platform configurations; assist with development and maintenance of operational runbooks and Standard Operating Procedures (SO