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Network Security Engineer

Also known as: Network Security Architect, Firewall Engineer, Network Defense Engineer, Network Infrastructure Security Engineer

AI Impact Score

48/100

AI is enhancing network security through AI-powered NDR (Network Detection and Response), automated firewall rule optimisation, and intelligent network anomaly detection. Engineers who combine deep networking expertise with AI-powered detection tooling are far more effective at detecting sophisticated threats that evade signature-based tools — while the architecture and policy judgement work remains human.

$90k – $165k

Salary Range

booming

Growth Outlook

32,000

Total Jobs (US)

+25%

Growth Rate

Task Breakdown

Tasks at Risk (4)

Routine firewall rule review and cleanupStandard network vulnerability scan report generationBasic network traffic log reviewManual network segmentation compliance checking

AI-Enhanced Tasks (4)

AI-powered network anomaly detection and investigationAutomated firewall rule risk analysis and optimisationAI-assisted network threat hunting using NetFlow and packet dataAutomated network compliance monitoring

Human-Safe Tasks (5)

Complex network security architecture designFirewall policy design for new business requirementsNetwork forensics investigation of sophisticated threatsSD-WAN and SASE architecture implementationOT/ICS network security design

Current Skills

Next-Generation Firewalls (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Check Point)Network Detection and Response (Darktrace, ExtraHop, Vectra)Network Segmentation and Micro-segmentation (VMware NSX, Illumio)VPN and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)Packet Analysis (Wireshark, Zeek, Suricata)

Future-Proof Skills

SASE Architecture (Zscaler, Palo Alto Prisma SASE, Cloudflare One)AI-Powered NDR and Network Threat HuntingCloud Network Security (AWS Transit Gateway, Azure Virtual WAN)Software-Defined Networking SecurityOT Network Security (Purdue Model, ISA/IEC 62443)