Sr Staff Researcher

Company Description

This role is located at our dynamic Santa Clara, California headquarters.

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!

Job Description

Your Career

We are the WildFire Team in the Content Delivered Security Service (CDSS) organization. Our engineering and Security Research team is at the core of our products and deliver the best of security services in the cloud to prevent cyberattacks. We are constantly innovating and challenging the way we, and the whole industry, think about cybersecurity. Our engineers don't shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before.

As a member of the team, you will work with researchers on implementing different projects that detect and defend against various emerging threats. You will be a key person in transforming ideas into products which are part of the next generation security platform. The team is responsible for innovating new security techniques.

Your Impact

• Track and research emerging malware families and innovate new ways to identify malicious behaviors
• Participate/lead in the complete software development life cycle including requirement analysis, architectural design, development, testing, deployment and operation support
• Write clean, testable, readable, scalable and maintainable Python/C code that scales and performs well for thousands of customers
• Design and build cloud native scalable systems
• Clearly communicate goals and desired outcomes to internal project teams
• Collaborate with both internal and external stakeholders to continually improve the systems

Qualifications

Your Experience

• 4+ years industry experience including but not limited to malware analysis & detection, reverse engineering
• Proficiency in at least one of the programming languages: Python, Java, C, Golang 
• Experience with Docker, and cloud environments such as AWS, Azure, GCP and their technologies
• Experience with malware analysis on the MacOS/Linux/Android platform is a plus
• Good knowledge of machine learning models and experience in AI and data driven approaches is a plus
• Hands on and can-do attitude, willing to learn new technologies
• Be comfortable working independently and efficiently
• Excellent communication (written and verbal) and presentation skills
• BS/MS/PhD in computer science/engineering, or equivalent military 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 tha