✅ What “Updating PKI certificates” means
They want someone who can :
- Renew certificates before they expire.
- Replace expiring or compromised certificates on network devices.
- Generate CSRs (Certificate Signing Requests) and work with internal or external Certificate Authorities (CAs).
- Install certificates on network equipment (routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, VPN appliances, proxies, wireless controllers, etc.).
- Validate certificate chains (root → intermediate → leaf).
- Update trust stores on network devices.
- Troubleshoot certificate-related outages like :
- VPN authentication failures
- TLS handshake issues
- Certificate mismatch or wrong key pairs
- Expired or revoked certificates
✅ Examples of network devices needing PKI updates
A network engineer may need to update certs on :
Cisco ASA / FirepowerCisco ISEPalo Alto firewallsF5 load balancersNetScaler / ADCVPN gatewaysSD-WAN appliancesWireless controllers (for EAP-TLS)Web proxies✅ Why customers care
Expired or misconfigured certificates can cause :
VPN login failuresAdmin portals becoming unreachableNetwork authentication breaking (802.1X, Radius)Encrypted traffic (TLS / SSL) not functioningSo, they want someone who can prevent outages and manage the lifecycle of certificates.✅ Required skill set
When a customer asks for this, they usually expect :
Knowledge of PKI fundamentals (RSA, ECC, CSR, CRL, OCSP)Experience with certificate authorities (Microsoft ADCS, Entrust, DigiCert, GlobalSign, etc.)Experience applying certificates on security / network platformsAbility to script or automate renewal workflows (PowerShell, Python, Ansible)