Principal Engineer Software

Palo Alto Networks; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 147,000 - 237,500; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan with company match

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a Senior Staff Data Center & OpenShift Operations Engineer to ensure high availability of our infrastructure. The role involves monitoring systems, implementing disaster recovery strategies, and managing OpenShift clusters.

Qualified candidates will have 5+ years of experience in Red Hat OpenShift, deep knowledge of GPU hardware, and strong skills in automation and scripting.

The position offers competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits including health, dental, and vision insurance.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience with Red Hat OpenShift in a production environment.
• Advanced proficiency in automation tools like Ansible.
• Experience with GPU systems and specialized AI/ML hardware.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and maintain high-availability infrastructure.
• Implement automated failover strategies and backup procedures.
• Resolve hardware and software issues in production environments.

Skills

Red Hat OpenShift (OCP) expertise

Deep experience with high-density GPU systems

Ansible or Pulumi proficiency

Strong Python skills

CoreOS and RHEL administration

Understanding of BGP and VLAN tagging

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or IT

Tools

Prometheus

Grafana

vSphere or KVM

DCIM tools (Netbox)

Job description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks®, we’re united by a shared mission—to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting‑edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you’re in the right place.

Who We Are

In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us!

We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real‑time problem‑solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes.

Job Summary

Sr Staff Data Center & OpenShift Operations Engineer

Position Overview

The Senior Data Center Operations Engineer is responsible for the bedrock of our high‑availability infrastructure. This role bridges the gap between physical hardware and the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP). Your mission is to ensure 99.99% availability by architecting resilient physical layouts and automating the deployment, scaling, and self‑healing capabilities of our production clusters.

Key Responsibilities

• High‑Availability (HA) Infrastructure: Monitor and maintain data center systems with a focus on “Zero Single Point of Failure” (ZSPoF) architecture for OpenShift control planes and worker nodes.
• Cluster Reliability Engineering: Implement and manage OpenShift 4.x clusters across multiple power and cooling zones to ensure 99.99% uptime.
• Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity: Design, test, and execute automated failover strategies and backup/restore procedures using tools like OADP (Velero) and Red Hat ACM.
• Automated Maintenance: Perform routine maintenance and upgrades using GitOps (ArgoCD) and the Machine Config Operator to ensure zero‑downtime node evacuations and patching.
• Complex Troubleshooting: Resolve deep‑stack hardware and software issues, from faulty GPU firmware to OpenShift SDN (OVN‑Kubernetes) network latencies.
• Vendor & Lifecycle Management: Coordinate with vendors for specialized hardware (e.g., NVIDIA, Dell, Cisco) while maintaining strict security and firmware compliance.
• Efficiency & Capacity Architecture: Optimize rack density for high‑performance GPU clusters while managing thermal loads and power distribution (PDU) to prevent circuit‑trip outages.
• Observability Implementation: Maintain accurate documentation and integrate hardware health metrics (IPMI/SNMP) into Prometheus/Grafana for proactive alerting.
• Physical Deployment: Rack and stack high‑density GPU servers, ensuring redundant power‑pathing and high‑speed (100G/200G) InfiniBand or Ethernet cabling.
• Hardware Lifecycle: Perform precision physical installation and replacement of critical components (CPUs, GPUs, NVMe storage) in a live production environment without impacting cluster quorum.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience specifically operating Red Hat OpenShift (OCP) in a production environment.
• Deep experience racking/stacking and cabling high‑density GPU systems (e.g., NVIDIA DGX or similar) and specialized AI/ML hardware.
• Advanced proficiency in Ansible or Pulumi for automating bare‑metal provisioning and cluster configuration.
• Strong Python and Bash skills for developing custom health‑check scripts and API integrations.
• Expert‑level CoreOS and RHEL administration, including kernel tuning and systemd management.
• Solid understanding of BGP, VLAN tagging, LACP, and Load Balancing (F5/NGINX) essential for cluster ingress.
• Experience with vSphere or KVM, and persistent storage solutions like OpenShift Data Foundation (ODF) or Ceph.
• Familiarity with DCIM tools (Netbox) and monitoring stacks (ELK, Loki, etc.).

Physical Requirements

• Lifting: Ability to lift and move equipment up to 50 pounds (e.g., high‑density 2U/4U servers).
• Environment: Comfortable working in high‑decibel, climate-controlled data center aisles.
• Dexterity: Capable of standing, walking, and performing precision cabling in tight rack spaces for extended periods.
• Travel: May require occasional travel to remote data center sites or edge locations.

Benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with high‑availability expertise.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. $147,000.00 – $237,500.00/yr

Our Commitment

We’re trailblazers that dream big, take risks, and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

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.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship? No.