Principal Engineer Software (Cortex)

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.
Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we're looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

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 Description

Your Career

Bring your software engineer skills to help build out our latest Products and Services against the Palo Alto Networks SAAS Security offering. We are looking for full stack engineers who have knowledge on Java, cloud computing (AWS and Google Cloud Platform), Redis, Elastic, Mongo and other Relational databases. This role will also give you an unrivaled opportunity to build enterprise class cloud security solutions which help provide visibility and security in a continuously growing SaaS Applications world. If you love solving tough problems at scale, this is the career for you.

Your Impact

• Execute on the software development strategy to improve our dynamic highly distributed system
• Understand and implement software development/engineering lifecycle concepts to drive features from conception to delivery
• Collaborate closely with the product management, architects and dev-ops to achieve quality releases
• Work hand-in-hand with customer support, documentation and downstream teams to enable customer success
• Make appropriate trade-offs to optimize time-to-release while maintaining performance and scalability requirements
• Be able to clearly communicate goals and desired outcomes to internal project teams
• Interview, mentor and coach new team members

Qualifications

Your Experience

• 8+ years of hands-on backend engineering experience building production services.
• Strong programming skills in one or more of: Python, Go, TypeScript; openness to working primarily in Python and Go.
• Deep experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs and backend services, including data modeling and integration with other services (JSON-based APIs, service contracts, etc.).
• 7+ years' experience building large-scale, cloud-native or distributed systems (high-throughput, high-availability services).
• Experience with datastores such as NoSQL/SQL databases (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra, Postgres) and/or cloud analytics/data warehouses (e.g., BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift).
• Experience with distributed messaging / streaming technologies (e.g., Kafka, Pub/Sub, or similar) and event-driven architectures; ETL or data processing pipelines is a strong plus.
• Strong background in containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes) and at least one major cloud provider (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Azure).
• Experience with microservices architectures and related patterns (resiliency, service discovery, observability, API gateways, etc.).
• SSPM, CSPM, or general SaaS security / cloud security application experience is a strong plus.
• Enjoy crafting elegant, maintainable, and scalable solutions and improving existing systems as well as building new ones.
• Experience working as part of an agile, highly collaborative team while also being a self-starter with strong individual ownership.
• Experience in security- and compliance-focused environments (e.g., FedRAMP, SOC2) is a plus.
• M.S./B.S. in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical / military experience, with 8+ years of relevant experience.

Additional Information

The Team

To stay ahead of the curve, it's critical to know where the curve is, and how to anticipate the changes we're facing. For the fastest growing cybersecurity company, the curve is the evolution of cyberattacks, and the products and services that proactively address them. Our engineering team is at the core of our products - connected directly to the mission of preventing cyberattacks. They are constantly innovating - challenging the way we, and the industry, think about cybersecurity. These engineers aren't shy about creating products to solve problems no one has tackled before. They define the industry, instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital environment.

Our engineering team is provided with an unrivaled opportunity to build the products and practices that will support our company growth over the next decade, defining the cybersecurity industry as we know it. If you see the potential of how incredible people products can transform a business, this is the team for you. If you don't wait for directions, instead, identifying new features and opportunities we have to just get better, this is your new career.

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/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $147,000 - $237,500/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

Our Commitment

We're problem solvers that 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.