Manager - Network Security

About Cognizant Corporate
Cognizant Corporate is a global community united by a shared purpose: to make a meaningful impact. We are committed to excellence and driven by outcomes that matter. Collaboration is at the heart of how we work, and our forward-thinking mindset fuels continuous learning, innovation, and growth.
At Cognizant, careers transcend titles. We empower our people to think strategically, inspire others, and lead with purpose – always guided by our core values. Join us in shaping future of business.
About The Role
The Manager, Network Security Engineering and Operations will provide technical and operational leadership for enterprise network security services across traditional firewall, remote-access, identity-based access, and cloud-delivered Zero Trust technologies. 12 to 16 years of experience in enterprise networking or network security, including substantial experience in technical leadership or service management.
Demonstrated experience managing Network Security engineering or operations teams in a large, distributed enterprise
Role
The role will be accountable for service strategy, architecture governance, engineering delivery, operational stability, security compliance, major-incident leadership, and team capability across:
Enterprise firewalls, preferably Cisco ASA/FTD and Palo Alto Networks
Remote Access VPN using Cisco Secure Client/AnyConnect
Site-to-site IPSec VPN
Cisco Identity Services Engine
Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Private Access
Zero Trust Network Access and Secure Access Service Edge
In This Role, You Will
1. Service Ownership and Leadership
Own the end-to-end lifecycle of enterprise Network Security services, including strategy, architecture, engineering, transition, operations and optimisation
Establish clear service ownership, operating procedures, escalation paths and accountability across internal technology teams.
Define annual service roadmaps covering platform upgrades, security improvements, automation, technology refresh, resilience and legacy retirement.
Manage service performance, capacity, availability, risks, dependencies, technical debt and operational readiness.
Act as the management escalation point for significant service, delivery, stakeholder and vendor issues.
Balance operational stability with security transformation and business delivery priorities.
Architecture and Design Governance
Provide design authority for network security solutions across corporate environments, data centres, remote users, cloud platforms, business units, merged entities and isolated environments.
Review and approve high-level and low-level designs, security patterns, traffic-flow diagrams, migration approaches, implementation plans and operational acceptance criteria.
Govern technical standards for firewalls, RAVPN, IPSec tunnels, Cisco ISE, ZIA, ZPA, App Connectors, traffic forwarding and endpoint posture.
Ensure architecture decisions align with Zero Trust, least privilege, segmentation and defence-in-depth principles.
Technology and Engineering Leadership
Maintain Sufficient Technical Depth To Guide Engineering Teams, Challenge Vendor Recommendations, Approve Designs And Support Critical Escalations Across The Following Domains
Firewalls
Cisco ASA/FTD, Firewall Management Center, Palo Alto Networks and Panorama
Security policies, ACLs, NAT, segmentation, routing and high availability
IPS/IDS, URL filtering, SSL inspection and threat prevention
Rule optimisation, recertification and removal of obsolete policies
Platform lifecycle, patching and vulnerability remediation
Remote Access and IPSec VPN
Cisco Secure Client/AnyConnect architecture
SSL VPN, IKEv1/IKEv2 and site-to-site IPSec VPN
Authentication, authorization, SAML, RADIUS and certificates
Tunnel profiles, split tunnelling, routing, NAT and resiliency
Migration from conventional VPN access to application-based Zero Trust access
Cisco ISE
Authentication and authorization policies
RADIUS, TACACS+, 802.1X, profiling and posture
Certificate and identity integrations
VPN posture, device compliance and access enforcement
Node health, upgrades, high availability and disaster recovery
Zscaler ZIA and ZPA
ZIA traffic forwarding through ZCC, GRE, IPSec, Cloud Connectors and service edges
URL filtering, SSL inspection, DNS security, cloud firewall, threat prevention and DLP integration
ZPA App Connectors, application segments, access policies, Browser Access, posture and identity integration
Managed, unmanaged and isolated-device access patterns
App Connector placement, capacity, application discovery and segmentation
ZIA/ZPA policy governance, administrative access and logging
Operations, Delivery and Problem Management
Ensure effective L3/L4 support for firewall, RAVPN, IPSec, ISE, ZIA and ZPA services.
Lead or oversee P1/P2 incidents, technical war rooms and executive escalations.
Coordinate troubleshooting across network, security, endpoint, identity, cloud, application, vendor and service-management teams.
Ensure Network Security platforms comply with corporate security baselines, internal standards and applicable control frameworks.
Partner with Corporate Security and Audit teams to provide evidence for firewall governance, endpoint posture, identity enforcement, vulnerability remediation and access controls.
Support NIST, ISO, internal audit and regulatory evidence requirements as applicable.
Lead security transformation programmes involving RAVPN-to-ZPA migration, firewall optimisation, application segmentation and cloud-security adoption.
Lead, coach and develop a team of Network Security engineers and technical leads.
Build effective relationships with Corporate Security, Architecture, IAM, Endpoint, Cloud, Network Operations, Service Management and business stakeholders.
Translate technical issues and risks into clear business impact, decisions and investment requirements.
Manage engineering and escalation relationships with Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler and implementation partners.
Review vendor proposals, statements of work, architecture recommendations and product roadmaps.
Hold vendors accountable for defect resolution, root-cause findings, security fixes, platform reliability and delivery commitments.
Coordinate complex incidents and interoperability issues involving multiple providers.
Ensure all material decisions, responsibilities and dependencies are captured through documented RACI and governance structures.
These will help you succeed
Preferred Certifications
CCNP Security or equivalent Cisco security certification
Palo Alto Networks PCNSE
Zscaler ZIA/ZPA Administrator or Zscaler Digital Transformation certification
ITIL Foundation or advanced IT service-management certification
Relevant cloud certification in Azure, AWS or GCP
Work model –
We believe hybrid work is the way forward as we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is a hybrid position requiring 2-3 days a week in a client or Cognizant office in Pune, Maharashtra. Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work-life balance though our various wellbeing programs.

Work arrangement
Hybrid