Principal Security & Detections Engineer — AI Platform

Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; California; Hybrid; USD 156,000 - 253,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is pioneering the world’s most comprehensive AI security platform through Prisma AIRS—protecting complex ecosystems of AI models, applications, and agents from development through runtime. We are building a brand-new initiative on the AIRS team focused on advancing state-of-the-art AI/ML infrastructure and high-performance, distributed backend systems.

We are recruiting senior technical leaders to drive this architecture from the ground up across Sr.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Cyber Security, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of dedicated experience in detection engineering, threat analysis, or security research.
• Deep expertise in writing and optimizing signature-based patterns.
• Thorough understanding of application-layer evasion techniques.
• Strong knowledge of the detection-as-code philosophy and automated testing pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Analyze multi-stage attack behavior sequences and transform them into precise, deterministic signatures.
• Develop and maintain high-performance signatures that can be safely enforced by inline engines without impacting throughput.
• Own the entire signature lifecycle from initial research to deployment, automated regression testing, and deprecation.
• Drive continuous False Positive tuning and validation processes to minimize alert fatigue while maximizing true positives.
• Implement version pinning strategies and dependency management for threat content updates across distributed deployments.
• Partner with threat research and inline ML teams to integrate behavioral signatures with automated deep learning classifiers.

Skills

Signature development

Evasion defense

Detection-as-code

Python scripting

Regex

Threat analysis

Security research

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science or Cyber Security

Tools

OWASP Top 10 for LLMs

MITRE ATT&CK

Job description

Palo Alto Networks is pioneering the world’s most comprehensive AI security platform through Prisma AIRS—protecting complex ecosystems of AI models, applications, and agents from development through runtime. We are building a brand-new initiative on the AIRS team focused on advancing state-of-the-art AI/ML infrastructure and high-performance, distributed backend systems.

We are recruiting senior technical leaders to drive this architecture from the ground up across Sr.