Security Systems Architect – Layer 7, Real-Time Cloud

Jobs Paloaltonetworks; England; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 162,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a Senior Staff Software Engineer to help design and develop next-generation Layer 7 security capabilities. You will define architecture, influence product direction, and lead the development of security technologies addressing evolving threats.

The role requires deep expertise in systems programming, networking, and distributed systems, with a track record of delivering high-performance, production-grade software.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science or related technical field or equivalent practical/military experience.
• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience including senior leadership roles.
• Expert-level proficiency in C and strong proficiency in Go.
• Extensive experience developing in Unix/Linux environments.
• Proven experience designing and building large-scale, high-performance distributed systems.
• Deep expertise in networking fundamentals including TCP/IP internals and network security technologies.
• Advanced experience with multi-threaded, multi-process, and multi-core system design.
• Strong foundation in data structures, algorithms, and systems-level performance optimization.
• Demonstrated ability to lead architecture and deliver complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Drive the development of highly scalable, real-time, distributed cloud security systems.
• Define and implement robust, high-performance, and maintainable system architectures.
• Set technical direction for critical components, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security.
• Partner with product management, security research, and platform teams to translate complex requirements into executable designs.
• Lead end-to-end execution across the software development lifecycle, from concept through deployment and sustainment.
• Establish and enforce engineering best practices, including code quality, performance optimization, and secure development.
• Mentor senior and junior engineers, and elevate the technical capabilities of the organization.
• Identify architectural, tooling, and process gaps and drive improvements at an organizational level.
• Serve as a technical authority for debugging, performance tuning, and complex system challenges.

Skills

C

Go

Unix/Linux

Distributed systems

Networking fundamentals

Multi-threaded design

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science or related field

Equivalent practical/military experience

Tools

OpenSSL

Python

Job description

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a Senior Staff Software Engineer to help design and develop next-generation Layer 7 security capabilities. You will define architecture, influence product direction, and lead the development of security technologies addressing evolving threats.

The role requires deep expertise in systems programming, networking, and distributed systems, with a track record of delivering high-performance, production-grade software.