Director, Software Engineering (Cortex Platform)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 232,000 - 320,750; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to oversee the development of Cortex Platform teams in Santa Clara, CA. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in cloud distributed systems and a strong ability to lead high-scale engineering organizations.

Responsibilities include defining engineering vision, driving agile execution, and instilling a culture of ownership within the teams. Applicants should possess robust software engineering capabilities with a background in SaaS platforms.

The role offers a competitive salary range of $232,000 - $320,750 per year and emphasizes commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of software engineering experience with at least 7 years in leadership roles.
• Proven experience in architecting and operating large-scale cloud SaaS platforms.
• Strong expertise in high-throughput database architectures.

Responsibilities

• Define the engineering vision and technical roadmap for the Cortex Platform.
• Cultivate engineering rigor focusing on architecture and reliability.
• Champion AI-powered development tools to accelerate delivery cycles.

Skills

Cloud distributed systems

Microservices

Data stores

Production troubleshooting

AI-powered development

Distributed database architectures

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

AWS

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Microsoft Azure

Kubernetes

Docker

Job description

Job Summary

We are seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead the development of Cortex Platform teams in Santa Clara, CA. Hands-on experience with cloud distributed systems and high scale designs. Deeper experience with microservices, data stores and production troubleshooting.

Key Responsibilities

• Define the engineering vision and long-term technical roadmap for the Cortex Platform US teams, ensuring alignment with global business objectives.
• Cultivate engineering rigor with an uncompromising focus on high-scale architecture, multi-tenant cloud reliability, and end-to-end operational observability.
• Champion AI-powered development by integrating modern AI tools and LLM utilities into the engineering workflow to significantly accelerate software delivery cycles.
• Adopt a customer-first mindset, actively collaborating with Product Management, Customer Experience, and Sales Operations to translate real-world customer pain points into robust, scalable platform capabilities.
• Lead and scale a high-performing software engineering organization delivering enterprise-grade, mission-critical platform services that exceed customer SLAs.
• Drive agile execution, establishing clear metrics for team velocity, code quality, and system uptime, ensuring the customer experience is never compromised.
• Instill a culture of extreme ownership across all engineering squads, fostering an environment where leaders take end-to-end accountability for their systems, from initial design to production reliability.
• Attract, coach, and elevate technical leadership (Principals/Architects) and senior engineering talent within worldwide engineering squads.
• Foster an inclusive, innovative, and high-accountability culture that thrives in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent practical experience).
• 15+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 7 years leading large, globally distributed engineering organizations.
• Proven track record of architecting and operating large-scale cloud SaaS platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) handling massive data throughput.
• Strong expertise in designing and managing distributed, high-throughput database architectures capable of supporting real-time data ingestion and heavy read/write workloads at enterprise scale.
• A demonstrated history of practicing extreme ownership—taking total accountability for team outcomes, navigating ambiguity, and proactively driving solutions.
• High energy, a customer-first orientation, and the ability to pivot seamlessly in a fast-paced environment with a resilient, "can-do" attitude.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience in Cybersecurity, Big Data analytics, or SIEM/SOAR/XDR platforms is highly desirable.
• Deep familiarity with modern NoSQL, Time-Series, and Distributed Databases/Data Warehouses (e.g., Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, ClickHouse, Cassandra, BigQuery, Snowflake, Redis).
• Experience deploying or managing teams that build/utilize machine learning pipelines or generative AI tools.
• Deep familiarity with modern backend languages (Go, Python), containerization (Kubernetes, Docker), and stream processing (Kafka, Pub/Sub).

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/com-missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

$232,000.00 - $320,750.00/yr

Our Commitment

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at [e-mail].

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.