Manager, Firewall Infrastructure Engineering

Position Purpose: The Manager, Firewall Infrastructure Engineering is responsible for the operational leadership, delivery execution, workforce management, and capability advancement of the Firewall Infrastructure Engineering function.

This leader ensures the enterprise firewall ecosystem remains reliable, scalable, secure, measurable, and aligned to business and cybersecurity objectives. The role manages the engineering team responsible for firewall infrastructure, hardware lifecycle management, software currency, platform capacity, operational support, monitoring, resiliency, and continuous improvement initiatives.

The Manager, Firewall Security Engineering is accountable for the operational health, supportability, lifecycle management, and scalability of the firewall ecosystem. The role does not own firewall policy governance, firewall rule implementation, or security architecture decisions except where infrastructure requirements affect platform availability, performance, or supportability.

Key Details: Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Sponsorship and future sponsorship are not available for this opportunity, including employment-based visa types H-1B, L-1, O-1, H-1B1, F-1, J -1, OPT, or CPT.

Team Leadership:

• Lead a team of firewall infrastructure engineers.
• Establish priorities, sprint objectives, and operational work plans.
• Conduct performance management, career development, coaching, and mentoring.
• Develop succession plans and reduce key-person dependency risks.
• Build a sustainable operating model that distributes ownership across the team.

Operational Accountability:

• Ensure reliable operation of enterprise firewall infrastructure and supporting services.
• Maintain operational readiness, support models, escalation paths, and runbooks.
• Manage engineering backlogs and technical debt initiatives.
• Monitor platform health, performance, availability, and operational metrics.
• Drive consistent execution of firewall engineering processes and standards.
• Ensure operational support requirements are maintained across all firewall platforms.

Capability Management:

• Advance firewall infrastructure capabilities across resiliency, scalability, observability, and automation.
• Partner with Capability Stewards to develop multi-year technology and lifecycle roadmaps.
• Prioritize initiatives based on risk reduction, operational efficiency, capacity requirements, and business value.
• Ensure new capabilities transition successfully into production operations.

Firewall Infrastructure Ownership:

Provide operational leadership for technologies and capabilities including:

• Enterprise Firewall Platforms.
• Firewall Hardware Lifecycle Management.
• Firewall Software and Code Upgrades.
• Capacity Planning and Resource Forecasting.
• High Availability and Resiliency Architecture.
• Disaster Recovery and Recovery Validation.
• Firewall Performance Monitoring.
• Firewall Health Reporting.
• Platform Monitoring and Alerting.
• Asset Inventory and Technology Currency.
• Infrastructure Automation and Orchestration.
• Support Model and Escalation Management.
• Vendor Hardware Maintenance Coordination.
• Firewall Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure Connectivity.

Lifecycle and Capacity Management:

• Develop and maintain multi-year firewall hardware refresh strategies.
• Manage firewall technology currency and end-of-life/end-of-support planning.
• Forecast platform growth and future capacity requirements.
• Establish capacity thresholds and expansion triggers.
• Ensure infrastructure investments are aligned with future business demand.
• Track capacity utilization and provide executive reporting on lifecycle and expansion requirements.

Program and Project Execution:

• Lead execution of firewall infrastructure projects and strategic initiatives.
• Coordinate resources, timelines, dependencies, and stakeholder communications.
• Partner with architecture, network engineering, cloud engineering, security operations, and infrastructure teams.
• Ensure projects achieve measurable business and operational outcomes.

Governance and Risk Management:

• Track infrastructure risks and control effectiveness.
• Escalate issues requiring risk acceptance or executive decisions.
• Support audit, compliance, and control validation activities.
• Maintain documented standards, procedures, and engineering practices.
• Ensure lifecycle risks and supportability risks remain visible and actively managed.

Vendor and Service Provider Management:

• Manage relationships with firewall vendors and service providers.
• Hold vendors accountable to contracted deliverables and service-level commitments.
• Review support effectiveness, hardware roadmaps, and maintenance requirements.
• Drive continuous improvement through vendor partnerships.
• Participate in platform selection, renewal, and lifecycle planning activities.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Complies with all policies and standards.

Education/Experience: Requires a Bachelor's degree and 5+ years of related experience.

Or equivalent experience acquired through accomplishments of applicable knowledge, duties, scope and skill reflective of the level of this position.

Required Leadership Competencies:

• Strong people leadership and team development skills.
• Execution-focused management approach.
• Ability to balance operational support and strategic improvements.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent security initiatives.
• Risk-based decision-making capability.
• Ability to translate technical issues into business impact discussions.

Soft Skills:

• Ability to lead/manage others.
• Collaboration and team building skills.
• Effectively coaches and delivers constructive feedback.
• Instills commitment to organizational goals.
• Ability to communicate and make recommendations to upper management.
• Effective conflict management skills.
• Develops and delivers effective presentations.
• Demonstrated negotiation skills.

At Centene, we connect people to the care they need to live healthier lives - and the work you do here makes that impact real every day. You’ll take on meaningful challenges that directly support individuals, families, and communities, building your skills while making healthcare more accessible and effective. It’s work with a purpose you can see, backed by a team committed to improving lives well beyond the workday.

Centene offers a comprehensive benefits package including: competitive pay, health insurance, 401K and stock purchase plans, tuition reimbursement, paid time off plus holidays, and a flexible approach to work with remote, hybrid, field or office work schedules. Actual pay will be adjusted based on an individual's skills, experience, education, and other job-related factors permitted by law, including full-time or part-time status. Total compensation may also include additional forms of incentives. Benefits may be subject to program eligibility.

Centene is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, and values the ways in which we are different. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with the LA County Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act