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) 

• A high school diploma with at least six (6) years of work experience deploying, operating and maintaining computer, information, and network security systems in a large multi-platform network environment.
• Strong working knowledge of TCP/IP networking protocols and current network security procedures. 
• Technical expertise in system and network security, incident handling, intrusion detection, firewalls, VPN, vulnerability and patch management and log analysis. 
• Hands-on experience with VPN gateway technologies, such as Cisco ASA, Fortinet, or Palo Alto Global Protect. 
• Experience with complex network security and incident response procedures, including  computer and network data collection, investigations, containment and remediation in a large institutional environment.   
• Understanding of network architecture, application architecture, and their interoperability. 
• Experience with change control policy and procedures. 
• Demonstrated written and verbal communication skills with  ability to work with a diverse constituency in a service-based organization.  
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work with individuals of varying technical expertise across multiple organizational levels. 
• Familiarity with DMCA, HIPAA, FERPA, and other security/privacy laws.  

Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure) 

• A Bachelor's degree.
• Experience with Fortinet and Palo Alto firewall operations and policy administration strongly preferred. 
• Experience deploying, operating and maintaining enterprise information security controls including firewalls, IDS/IPS, and vulnerability management, anti-malware, and mail security appliances in a large enterprise higher education environment is highly preferred. 
• Prior experience in higher education is highly desirable.  

Physical Demands/Working Conditions

Typical office Environment. 

Work Schedule

• Monday to Friday 37.5 hours a week. 
• Some off- hour/weekend work will be required to respond to critical network problems and modifications.  
• Team on-call rotation required.  
• This position has the opportunity for a hybrid work schedule, which is defined by the University as an arrangement where an employee’s work is regularly performed at a location other than the campus workspace for a portion of the week. As this position falls within the Professional Staff Union, it is subject to the terms and conditions of the Professional Staff Union collective bargaining agreement.

Salary Information

Level 28

PSU Hiring Ranges

Special Instructions to Applicants 

Along with the application, please submit a resume and cover letter. References will be checked at the finalist stage, please be prepared to provide contact information for three (3) professional references.

UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, caste, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, political belief or affiliation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related condition(s), veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, natural and protective hairstyle and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University.  To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans.  It is the policy of UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.