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Senior Staff Software Engineer in Test - Performance

Palo Alto Networks
Santa Clara, United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 10 Nov 2025
💰 $185,500/yr($126,000/yr$185,500/yr)

About the role

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.

Our Approach to Work

We lead with flexibility and choice in all of our people programs. We have disrupted the traditional view that all employees have the same needs and wants. We offer personalization and offer our employees the opportunity to choose what works best for them as often as possible - from your wellbeing support to your growth and development, and beyond!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work from the office three days per week, leaving two days for choice and flexibility to work where you feel most effective. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. While details may evolve, our goal is to create an environment where innovation thrives, with office-based teams coming together three days a week to collaborate and thrive, together!

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

Job Description

Your Career

As a Software Engineer in Test  you will be working on our Performance Team who automates testing using Python, executes performance tests and develops new test tools.

  • 1:1 mentorship

  • Fun and engaging events that inspire your intellectual curiosity

  • Opportunity to contribute to one of the most critical aspect of company’s vision

  • The opportunity to expand your knowledge and work on challenging projects

  • Connections to other  employees across the company as well as our leaders

Your Impact

  • Build automation Frameworks for, HW, Cloud, and Virtualization test environments

  • Design and implement AI/ML-driven test strategies to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of performance testing.

  • Responsible for performance testing of our next-generation firewall platforms

  • Build and maintain complex test environment

  • Develop and execute test plans and test cases

  • Develop tools and infrastructure to improve the quality and efficiency of testing

  • Work closely with the Software Engineering, Product Management teams during product development from design to release

  • Reproduce and debug issues found during and after software release

  • Develop and maintain complex test bed environments 

 

 

Qualifications

Your Experience

 

  • Create and execute automated and manual test plans and maintain accurate documentation of results and process

  •  Experience with typical test tools from Spirent, Breaking Point, and Ixia is a must

  • Hands-on experience with Python, Linux, MySQL, and Networking.

  • Knowledge of L4-L7 network layers and protocols such as TCP/IP, HTTP and SSL

  • L2-L3 network testing experience with knowledge of most common switching and routing protocols

  • Able to design, monitor and administer a scale-able, development and test automation system: From test integration to automation framework with proficiency in Python is a must

  • Experience with bug tracking systems such as Jira

  • Provide innovative insight to better the reliability, scale-ability, and maintainability of systems

  • Knowledge of setting test beds and testing in a Virtualization environment, including cloud platforms AWS, Azure, GCP etc.

  • Experience testing network security products, preferably with firewalls and intrusion prevention is a plus

  • Knowledge of encryption and tunneling protocol test methods is a plus

  • Knowledge of Windows and Linux system set up and administration is a plus

  • Hands-on experience with Python, Linux, MySQL, and Networking.

Requir

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Company

Palo Alto Networks

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