Network Security Administrator (Hybrid Opportunity)

About UMass Amherst 

The flagship of the Commonwealth, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is a nationally ranked public land-grant research university that seeks to expand educational access, fuel innovation and creativity, and share and use its knowledge for the common good. Founded in 1863, UMass Amherst sits on nearly 1,450-acres in scenic Western Massachusetts and boasts state-of-the-art facilities for teaching, research, scholarship, and creative activity. The institution advances a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community where everyone feels connected and valued—and thrives, and offers a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees across 10 schools and colleges, and 100 undergraduate majors. We believe every member of our university community can contribute to our ongoing success by striving for the highest level of excellence as we seek breakthrough solutions to mounting environmental, social, economic, and technological challenges in our world.  

 

Job Summary

The Network Security Administrator is responsible for managing the University's firewalls and VPN infrastructure, ensuring the security and integrity of campus and data center networks. This role serves as a subject matter expert on next-generation firewall solutions, working closely with project management, network engineers, decentralized firewall tenants, and clients to meet the University's evolving security and business needs. 

 

Essential Functions

• Develop, implement, and maintain firewall operations, policies, procedures, and documentation, ensuring compliance with industry standards, regulatory requirements, and University policies while incorporating change management best practices. 
• Manage multi-tenant campus and data center Fortinet firewalls, including policy creation and modification. Design, configure, and implement firewalls to protect University assets from unauthorized access. 
• Monitor firewall logs and alerts to detect security threats, investigate anomalies, and take appropriate action. Analyze and evaluate anomalous network and system activities to identify and mitigate potential security breaches. 
• Manage the campus VPN solution, including overseeing a migration to a new vendor. Maintain and administer perimeter security systems such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and VPN infrastructure (Juniper, Palo Alto, Fortinet). 
• Work closely with network engineers to create, validate, and debug campus network configurations. Provide input from a firewall perspective on numerous campus network projects and collaborate with other IT professionals to ensure integration with security and network systems. 
• Diagnose and resolve a wide variety of client connectivity issues related to firewalls and VPNs. Develop and enforce firewall policies while ensuring operations align with broader security and network initiatives. 
• Create detailed technical reports on firewall block lists, device status, hardware/software upgrades, security incidents, and other key areas to support IT operations and compliance efforts. 
• Participate in the assessment, auditing, reporting, and documentation of threats and vulnerabilities to University computer, network, and information systems. Assist in deploying appropriate technical controls to mitigate risks. 
• Stay informed on evolving security trends, standards, and best practices related to firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention, and incident response. May participate in regional and national information security organizations. 

 

Other Functions

Performs other duties as assigned. 

 

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure) <