Principal Backend Engineer, AI Security Platform

Palo Alto Networks; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 156,000 - 253,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is shaping the future of AI security with Prisma AIRS, building a world-class AI/ML infrastructure. We are creating a brand-new AIRS initiative focused on scalable backend systems and distributed cloud services.

As a senior technical leader, you will help design the control plane, microservices, and data pipelines that power our security platform at global scale. This hybrid role requires on-site presence 3x per week at our Santa Clara, CA headquarters, with collaboration

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of experience in backend systems, platform architecture, or distributed cloud services.
• Deep programming expertise in Golang or Python.
• Experience building and scaling RESTful APIs, gRPC services, and event-driven microservices.
• Extensive experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Familiarity with Rust programming language is highly desired.
• Experience with GCP Bigtable, BigQuery, and Spanner for distributed databases.
• Knowledge of IAM or modern authorization concepts is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain scalable backend services and APIs for the new security platform.
• Develop the robust control plane that manages configurations and deployments.
• Write clean, secure code with a focus on reliability at massive scale.
• Architect and deploy microservices using Kubernetes on GCP infrastructure.
• Build integration layers between data planes, telemetry pipelines, and management consoles.
• Promote automated testing, CI/CD, and system monitoring practices.

Skills

Golang

Python

Backend engineering

Distributed cloud services

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

BigQuery

Bigtable

Spanner

gRPC

REST APIs

Job description

Palo Alto Networks is shaping the future of AI security with Prisma AIRS, building a world-class AI/ML infrastructure. We are creating a brand-new AIRS initiative focused on scalable backend systems and distributed cloud services.

As a senior technical leader, you will help design the control plane, microservices, and data pipelines that power our security platform at global scale. This hybrid role requires on-site presence 3x per week at our Santa Clara, CA headquarters, with collaboration