The present disclosure is directed to network traffic management and load balancing at a cloud-based secure access service accessible to remotely connected user devices. In one example, a cloud-based secure service system includes a network controller configured to receive network traffic from one or more user devices remotely connected to the controller; parse the network traffic into flow data and contextual information associated with the network traffic; determine that the network traffic is to be serviced by a target firewall service at the cloud-based secure service system based on the flow data and the contextual information; and direct the network traffic to the target firewall service to be serviced.