Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer (Gen AI, LLM)

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 take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

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!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Job Description

Your Career

We are seeking a Sr Staff LLM Application Engineer to join our team and lead the development and optimization of cutting-edge Large Language Models (LLMs) within the cybersecurity domain. You will play a pivotal role in advancing our AI technology, leveraging Generative AI, LLMs, and ML Ops to drive impactful solutions. As a technical leader, you will lead high-impact projects, mentor cross-functional teams, and contribute to the strategic direction of our AI-driven cybersecurity initiatives.

Your Impact

• Develop & Optimize LLMs: Lead the design, fine-tuning, and optimization of state-of-the-art LLMs for various cybersecurity applications, focusing on both performance and accuracy.

• Model Evaluation: Conduct in-depth evaluations of LLMs, assessing their effectiveness, efficiency, and business alignment.

• AI Technology Integration: Implement advanced AI technologies, such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), function calling, and code interpreters, to enhance LLM capabilities.

• Research & Development: Stay at the forefront of advancements in machine learning, particularly in LLMs, LLM agents, and large-scale neural networks.

• Parallel Training Techniques: Utilize data and model parallel training techniques to efficiently manage large-scale models.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Work closely with ML engineers, data scientists, and product teams to guide, mentor, and foster collaboration across disciplines.

• Documentation & Communication: Maintain detailed documentation of models, methodologies, and findings, ensuring clear communication across the organization.

• Product Strategy: Contribute to the AI-driven product roadmap, vision, and strategic direction.

• New Initiatives & Architecture: Lead the incubation of new initiatives, design scalable AI/ML solutions, and drive strategic technology choices for delivery within a microservices architecture.

• Model Deployment: Design, test, and deploy machine learning models, including LLMs, and develop scalable pipelines for both batch and real-time use cases.

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

• Experience: 5+ years of industry experience in machine learning, data analytics, and software engineering.

• Programming: Expertise in Python (or Go).

• LLM Expertise: Proven experience working with large language models (e.g., open ai, LLAMA, GEMINI.).

• Deep Learning: Strong theoretical or empirical understanding of deep learning techniques and frameworks.

• ML Model Deployment: Experience in building, testing, and deploying machine learning models, particularly large language models.

• Debugging & Analytical Skills: Strong ability to