Principal Engineer Software

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks , we're united by a shared mission-to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you're ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you're in the right place.

Who We Are

In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us!

We believe collaboration thrives in person. That's why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it's needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes.

Job Summary

The Team

Engineering - Our engineering team is at the core of our products and connected directly to the mission of preventing cyberattacks. We are constantly innovating - challenging the way we, and the industry, think about cybersecurity. Our engineers don't shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before. We define the industry instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of a challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital environment.

Job Summary

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will provide technical leadership in designing and delivering robust, next-generation cloud security solutions. You will drive the development of scalable cloud security architecture through hands-on coding, manage the full product lifecycle, and collaborate across teams to simplify complex technical issues and deliver high-quality security-as-a-service offerings.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for end-to-end solution delivery, aligning with cross-functional teams.
• Design, implement, and troubleshoot robust next-generation cloud security solutions for complex challenges.
• Drive the development of scalable cloud security architecture through hands-on coding and strategic planning.
• Architect and lead the implementation of the entire ML lifecycle, from development to production deployment.
• Develop and maintain automated, resilient systems for continuous training, testing, and monitoring of ML models.
• Establish best practices for model versioning, reproducibility, auditing, and compliance across all models.
• Collaborate with Product Management, SRE, and Security teams to deliver high-quality, production-ready AI systems.
• Continuously evaluate and introduce cutting-edge MLOps tools and frameworks to enhance scalability and reliability.
• Strategically manage and optimize ML infrastructure to reduce operational costs and improve efficiency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software development experience, with a focus on cloud-native and SaaS applications.
• Proven experience in designing and building large-scale, distributed systems on public cloud platforms (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure).
• Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language such as Python, Go, or Java.
• Demonstrated experience with the full machine learning lifecycle, including model deployment and MLOps.
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or CloudFormation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field.
• Experience in the cybersecurity domain or with network security products.
• Expertise with containerization and orchestration technologies, particularly Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience with real-time data processing and streaming technologies (e.g., Kafka, Flink).
• Contributions to open-source projects in the cloud-native or MLOps space.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/com-missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

$147,000.00 - $237,500.00/yr

Our Commitment

We're trailblazers that dream big, take risks, and challenge cybersecurity's status quo. It's simple: we can't accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship?: Yes