Sr. Principal Software Engineer (L7 Security)

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 Sr. Principal Software Engineer, you will own and shape the future of secure cloud environments using an AI-first mindset. You will lead the charge in cloud security automation, driving extreme efficiency to proactively identify and prevent misconfigurations. Operating with high autonomy, your mission is to innovate and implement cutting-edge infrastructure solutions that prevent cyberattacks. You will not just maintain infrastructure, but redefine how the industry approaches cloud security and automation.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement GCP cloud infrastructure solutions, including compute reservations, BigTable, SQL, Pub/Sub, and networking.

• Lead weekly global production upgrade cycles, managing branch-out processes, version gating, and rollback procedures.

• Own end-to-end service deployments on Kubernetes, from Helm chart creation to production rollout and scaling.

• Manage and optimize production database infrastructure, including MySQL, Redis, BigQuery, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL.

• Utilize AI tools to optimize coding, automate tasks, and contribute to AI-native infrastructure like Vertex AI.

• Manage multi-tenant customer infrastructure, including dedicated compute reservations, provisioning, and feature flag management.

• Develop internal Python CLI tools and automation scripts to streamline operations and enhance efficiency.

• Drive cloud cost optimization through resource right-sizing, reservation management, and database disk reduction.

• Enhance service reliability by establishing SLAs, comprehensive monitoring, and participating in production on-call rotations.

• Innovate, design, and improve the Next-Generation Firewall and GlobalProtect functionality and performance.

• Own and deliver high-quality features and improvements for critical Next-Generation Firewall system components.

• Collaborate cross-functionally as a networking and security expert to architect innovative software solutions.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• B.S. degree in Computer Science, a similar technical discipline, or equivalent practical or military experience.

• 15 years of experience designing and developing scalable software and infrastructure solutions.

• 3 to 4 years of experience managing cross-functional projects in a dynamic environment.

• Deep expertise in GCP and Kubernetes orchestration, including HPA, Node Pools, and Terraform.

• Strong programming skills in C, Python, and Go for automation