Senior Network Security Engineer (R&D, Next-Gen Firewall)

<div><p>We are seeking a visionary and highly skilled<b>Senior Network Security Developer</b>to join our core<b>Research&Development (R&D)</b>team. This is not a typical role. You will be at the heart of a strategic initiative to design and build our company's<b>Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)</b>platform from the ground up. The ideal candidate is a creative thinker and a hands‑on builder, passionate about leveraging open‑source technologies and developing novel algorithms to solve complex security challenges.</p><p>Your primary mission will be to architect a new software stack that deeply integrates and extends the OPNsense platform via its APIs, creating a robust, scalable, and market‑leading security solution.</p><h3>Key Responsibilities</h3><h3>Next-Gen Firewall Architecture&Development</h3><ul><li>Lead the architectural design of a new Next‑Gen Firewall, starting from the foundational components and building from the ground up.</li><li>Develop and prototype new security algorithms, modules and data processing pipelines for advanced threat detection, application control, and content filtering.</li><li>Have a deep understanding of Data Loss Prevention technologies.</li><li>Integrate various open‑source tools and third‑party services into a cohesive, high‑performance software stack.</li></ul><h3>OPNsense Integration&Extension</h3><ul><li>Serve as the subject matter expert on OPNsense, with a deep focus on its internal architecture and API capabilities.</li><li>Design and develop custom modules and services that extend OPNsense's core functionality to meet our product requirements.</li><li>Build robust integrations between our proprietary software stack and the OPNsense platform using its REST APIs for configuration, data extraction, and control.</li><li>Conduct forward‑looking research into emerging network security threats, encryption standards, and high‑performance data plane technologies.</li><li>Evaluate and benchmark new open‑source projects, security algorithms, and hardware platforms to ensure our NGFW remains on the cutting edge.</li><li>Build proof‑of‑concept (PoC) environments to validate new architectural designs and innovative features before full‑scale development.</li></ul><h3>Experience</h3><ul><li>A minimum of<b>5 years</b>of experience in a<b>Network Security R&D or product development environment</b>. Experience in building security products is highly preferred over operating them.</li></ul><h3>Core Technical Expertise</h3><ul><li><b>Expert-level experience with OPNsense</b>, specifically focused on<b>development and integration</b>. You must demonstrate experience using the<b>OPNsense API (REST)</b>to programmatically develop, extend, and integrate it into a new software stack.</li><li><b>Strong software development skills</b>with proficiency in<b>Java or Go</b>. You should be comfortable designing and building microservices, APIs, and complex backend systems.</li><li><b>Advanced scripting and automation skills</b>using<b>Python or Bash</b>for rapid prototyping, testing, and building development tools.</li><li>Deep, architectural understanding of IDS/IPS engines (<b>Suricata/Snort</b>) and Proxy/Cache systems (<b>Squid</b>), with experience integrating them as components in a larger system.</li></ul><h3>Foundational Knowledge</h3><ul><li><b>Deep understanding of firewall architecture</b>, including packet flow, state management, and data plane vs. control plane separation.</li><li>Strong command of TCP/IP, routing (OSPF, BGP), switching (VLANs), and VPN technologies (IPsec, SSL VPN).</li><li>Proficiency with packet analysis tools (<b>Wireshark, tcpdump</b>) for debugging complex issues at the protocol level during the development cycle.</li><li>A mindset geared towards innovation, experimentation, and solving problems from first principles.</li></ul></div>#J-18808-Ljbffr