Principal Software Engineer ( Cloud Infrastructure and Platform Engineering )

Palo Alto Networks; United States; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks seeks a world-class Principal Engineer (Sr Manager-equivalent) to lead AI-driven tooling within CIPE, embedding intelligence across the developer lifecycle from ideation to observability.

You will architect strategy, drive velocity, and elevate software quality while solving complex engineering challenges with executive visibility. This hybrid role sits at our Santa Clara campus, three days in office.

Qualifications

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
• 9+ years of relevant software engineering experience with leadership.
• Experience defining and leading large-scale cross-organizational technical initiatives.
• Experience building and scaling platforms serving thousands of engineers.

Responsibilities

• Define the Vision: Architect and own the technical roadmap for AI-enhanced developer tools and infrastructure in CIPE at Palo Alto Networks.
• Evaluate and Execute Solutions: Lead design/implementation of systems using LLMs, static/dynamic analysis, ML.
• Drive Organization-Wide Impact: Improve key metrics like code velocity, review cycle time, test effectiveness, and incident reduction.
• Lead Cross-Functional Initiatives: Influence and align multiple engineering organizations and leaders.
• Enable Secure Innovation: Develop AI platforms enabling prototyping, deployment, and scale of threat-intelligent cloud features.
• Serve as Technical Authority: Be the go-to expert on AI-augmented cloud platforms, mentoring engineers.
• Innovate at Enterprise Scale: Tackle multi-cloud challenges (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI) and large-scale workloads.

Skills

Leadership & cross‑org initiatives

Platform scaling

Security foundations

Developer platforms

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Cloud platforms (GCP)

Terraform (IaC)

IAM & OAuth/OIDC

AI/ML in software

Executive stakeholder alignment

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS or related field

Tools

Terraform

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

Your Career At Palo Alto Networks, Secure Cloud and AI infrastructure is the foundation of our mission to protect the digital future. We’re seeking a world-class Principal Engineer (Sr Manager-equivalent) to lead the evolution of AI-driven tools within our Cloud Infrastructure and Platform Engineering (CIPE) organization.

You will be the key architect of our strategy to embed intelligence into every stage of the developer lifecycle—from ideation and documentation to coding, testing, deployment, and observability.

Your work will directly accelerate developer velocity, elevate our standards for software quality, and unlock new business opportunities by enabling the rapid integration of agentic AI into our products.

This role carries executive-level visibility and the autonomy to solve our most complex engineering challenges.

If you are a recognized expert in developer platforms and are passionate about leveraging AI to redefine engineering efficiency at a global scale, we want to hear from you.

This role is located at our dynamic Santa Clara California headquarters campus, and in office 3 days a week.

Your Impact

• Define the Vision: Architect and own the technical roadmap for AI-enhanced developer tools and infrastructure in CIPE at Palo Alto Networks.
• Evaluate and Execute Solutions: Lead the design and implementation of novel systems that leverage Large Language Models (LLMs), static/dynamic analysis, and machine learning to create a world‑class, intelligent developer experience.
• Drive Organization‑Wide Impact: You are a builder, so you won’t just stop at ideation. Beyond concepts, ensure your builds show step‑change improvements in key engineering metrics like including code velocity, review cycle time, test effectiveness, incident reduction, and overall feature launches.
• Lead Cross‑Functional Initiatives: Spearhead complex, cross‑functional projects that require influencing and aligning multiple engineering organizations and their leadership.
• Enable Secure Innovation: Develop foundational AI platforms that empower teams to prototype, deploy, and scale threat‑intelligent cloud features, embedding Palo Alto Networks’ security natively.
• Serve as Technical Authority: Act as the go‑to expert on AI‑augmented cloud platforms, mentoring senior engineers and infusing industry‑leading practices into our high‑stakes ecosystem.
• Innovate at Enterprise Scale: Address intricate challenges in multi‑cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI) supporting thousands of microservices, secure workloads, and global threat detection pipelines.

Qualifications

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
• 9+ years of relevant software engineering experience, with a proven track record of technical leadership and innovation.
• Demonstrated experience defining and leading large‑scale, cross‑organizational technical initiatives from concept to completion.
• Experience building and scaling platforms that serve thousands of engineers in complex environments.
• Strong foundation in application and infrastructure security, including secrets management, supply chain security, and secure‑by‑default platform design.
• Recognized expertise in developer platforms, cloud‑native infrastructure, container orchestration technologies (e.g Kubernetes) and CI/CD.
• Deep proficiency with a major cloud platform (GCP preferred), including IAM, managed databases, networking, and Workload Identity.
• Experience designing and maintaining Infrastructure as Code (e.g. Terraform) at scale, including module architecture and state management.
• Expertise in authentication/authorization systems: OAuth 2.0, OIDC, token lifecycle management, and zero‑trust patterns.
• Hands‑on experience applying AI/ML/GenAI to solve complex software engineering problems.
• Experience influencing and aligning senior leadership (Director, VP level) on technical strategy and roadmaps.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep expertise in leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) and other generative AI techniques to build intelligent developer tools.
• Experience building and operating observability stacks (metrics, logging, alerting) for distributed systems.
• A history of significant contributions to the open‑source community, publications in top‑tier conferences, or patents in relevant fields.

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.

• /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?: Yes