Senior Network Security Engineer

Job title : Akamai Security Engineer

Will the role be 100% remote, hybrid or 100% office? Hybrid – 2 Days/Week

If the role is hybrid/ office based specify location: London, UK

Duration of assignment : 6 months contract

InsideIR35

The Role

The Akamai Security Engineering is responsible for implementing, tuning, and managing Akamai security solutions to protect web applications, APIs, and digital assets from evolving cyber threats. This role works closely with application owners, the Network, Security, and SOC stakeholders to ensure an effective security posture, optimal performance, and regulatory compliance are in place.

Key responsibilities:

• Deploy and manage Akamai security solutions, including Kona Site Defender, Web Application Protector (WAP), Bot Manager, Client Reputation, API Security, and Account Protector.
• Configure, tune, and optimise WAS, CDN, WAF rules, rate controls, reputation-based controls, and custom security policies to reduce false positives and improve threat detection.
• Analyse security events, logs, and alerts to identify malicious activity, attack patterns, and emerging threats.
• Perform incident response support, including investigation, mitigation, and post-incident analysis for web-based attacks.
• Collaborate with SOC, application, and network teams to support security operations, threat remediation, and change management.
• Should know the TrafficPeak /Grafana tool for Dashboard creation, reporting and interpreting traffic spikes vs. legitimate business peaks.
• Using TrafficPeak / Grafana outputs to fine-tune thresholds, rate limits, and security rules.
• Establish and maintain traffic baselines, thresholds, and monitoring strategies aligned with business and risk requirements.
• Support onboarding of new applications and APIs onto Akamai security platforms.
• Create, update, and maintain process, runbook, and technical documentation in Confluence or similar knowledge repositories.
• Provide security recommendations and best practices aligned with Akamai and industry standards.
• Assist with audits, compliance activities, and security reviews.

Key skills/knowledge/experience:

• Strong hands-on experience with Akamai Security solutions, particularly Kona Site Defender, WAS, CDN and WAF configurations.
• Solid understanding of web application security concepts (bot mitigation, DDoS, rate limiting).
• Experience analysing HTTP/S traffic, logs, and security events.
• Familiarity with API security concepts and protections.
• Identifying patterns related to bots, scrapers, reputation-based traffic, and volumetric anomalies
• Knowledge of TCP/IP, DNS, SSL/TLS, and CDN architectures.
• Ability to tune security controls to balance protection and performance.
• Teamwork is key for this role and being adaptive to learning and sharing knowledge.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience:

• Akamai certifications (e.g., Akamai Web Security Professional / Specialist).
• Experience with SIEM integration, log analysis tools, and monitoring platforms.
• Good knowledge on Datadog, Grafana and other tools if any
• As you will be front facing with customers, Strong analytical and problem-solving skills is expected.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including technical documentation.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities.
• Strong stakeholder management and collaboration skills