Senior CDN Engineer – Akamai Security & DDoS Mitigation

Our client is seeking a highly skilled CDN Engineer with deep, hands‑on expertise in Akamai CDN and Akamai security products. This role supports an enterprise‑level environment undergoing modernization and increased security hardening.

This is not a high‑level architecture role the team already owns the design. They need a consultant who can execute, configure, troubleshoot, and respond to real‑time events across Akamai services.

Ideal for a senior engineer who enjoys hands‑on configuration, problem‑solving, and rapid response in a high‑visibility environment.

No Visa Sponsorship

Contract Duration: Through end of year (extension possible) | W2

Work Hours: 10–20 hours/week

Location: Remote, U.S. Based (must work CST/EST hours)

Compensation: Competitive hourly rate based on depth of Akamai security experience (App & API Protector, Property Manager, Prolexic)

Responsibilities:

• Akamai Configuration: Implement, tune, and maintain Akamai CDN properties using Property Manager.
• DDoS Mitigation: Support and respond to attack traffic using Akamai Prolexic and related mitigation tools.
• DevOps & Automation: Support scripting, automation, and CI/CD integration for CDN configuration changes.
• App & API Protector: Configure and maintain WAF rules, security policies, bot protections, and API protections.
• Security Policy Management: Create, update, and maintain security rules to protect web applications and APIs.
• Troubleshooting & Incident Response: Diagnose latency issues, cache misses, routing problems, and security events.
• CDN Performance Optimization: Improve global content delivery, caching strategies, TTL settings, and cache‑purge workflows.
• Monitoring & Reporting: Use tools such as Datadog, Grafana, or Akamai dashboards to track performance and identify anomalies.

Qualifications (Must-Haves)

• Availability for 10–20 hours/week aligned to Central/Eastern Time.
• Ability to work independently in a consulting environment with minimal oversight.
• Experience troubleshooting performance, routing, caching, and security events in real time.
• Strong understanding of HTTP/HTTPS, DNS, TLS, caching behavior, and global content delivery.
• 5+ years hands‑on experience as a CDN Engineer, Security Engineer, or Cloud Infrastructure Engineer.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, or a related field — OR equivalent hands‑on experience.
• Expert‑level Akamai experience, including: App & API Protector, Property Manager, Security Policy Creation and Prolexic (Firewall + DDoS Mitigation)

Perk:

Citrix Netscaler experience, additional project work may be available:

• Netscaler MPX
• Netscaler VPX
• Pattern sets and policy configuration