Principal Software Engineer | Data Science

Remote; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, Dental, Vision

401k with company match

Parental Leave

Hybrid and Remote Work Model

Educational Reimbursement

Job summary

ExtraHop is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead architecture and execution on the NDR platform. You will drive complex engineering programs, mentor engineers, and collaborate with data scientists and cloud teams to deliver scalable AI-driven security solutions.

You’ll work across teams to implement production-grade services, influence product strategy, and set engineering standards while addressing evolving cyber threats in real time.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of software engineering with at least 2 years in Principal/Lead/Staff shipping enterprise-grade software.
• Expert-level Python and Go coding for production-quality, well-tested code.
• Experience in machine learning, statistics, or related quantitative discipline.
• Experience building/operating production AI/ML systems, including lifecycle and monitoring.
• Applying ML/DS techniques to cybersecurity use cases like anomaly detection or threat classification.
• Advanced understanding of threat detection, intrusion prevention, and incident response.

Responsibilities

• Design, write, and maintain high-performance software for AI/ML models analyzing network traffic.
• Develop autonomous AI agent architectures and multi-agent workflows.
• Collaborate with data scientists, threat researchers, and cloud teams to build production-ready ML workloads.
• Drive engineering excellence via code/design reviews and standards.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives and represent engineering to leadership.
• Contribute to product strategy with technical insight on roadmap and build-vs-buy decisions.
• Provide mentorship to software engineers and foster rigorous engineering discipline.

Skills

Python

Go

ML/AI

Threat detection

Cybersecurity

Mentorship

Education

Master’s degree in CS/Engineering or equivalent

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS/Azure

Job description

At ExtraHop, we’re on a mission to protect and empower the connected enterprise. We reveal what is happening in the very infrastructure that sustains businesses, lives, and communities, and ensure the integrity of networks, data, systems, and processes. Organizations rely on ExtraHop to provide visibility into the cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and network performance issues that evade their existing security and IT tools. With this insight, organizations can investigate smarter, stop threats faster, and keep operations running.

Our mission is fueled by a profound social and moral responsibility to be the best at what we do, ensuring a secure world where everyone can thrive. If this sounds like a place you’d like to spend the next chapter of your career, we’d love to hear from you.

Position Summary

ExtraHop is at the forefront of innovation in the cybersecurity space, delivering cutting-edge solutions to protect organizations against evolving threats. Our Network Detection and Response (NDR) products empower businesses to detect, respond to, and mitigate cyber risks in real time.

We seek a Principal Software Engineer to join our product development organization and serve as a technical anchor on our NDR platform. In this role, you will drive the architecture and execution of complex, high-impact engineering initiatives that define the future of our products. You will operate with significant autonomy, influence engineering direction across teams, and mentor engineers at multiple levels while delivering software that addresses the most sophisticated challenges in network security.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, write, and maintain robust, high-performance software to deploy AI/ML models that analyze network traffic for anomalous or malicious behaviors.
• Design and develop autonomous AI agent architectures and multi-agent workflows.
• Collaborate with data scientists, threat researchers, and cloud teams to build high-performance services, pipelines, and tooling that accelerate ML experimentation and production workflows.
• Drive engineering excellence across teams through code reviews, design reviews, and the establishment of standards, patterns, and best practices.
• Lead cross-functional technical initiatives and represent engineering in conversations with senior leadership and external stakeholders.
• Contribute to product strategy by bringing deep technical insight to roadmap discussions, build-vs-buy decisions, and competitive differentiation.
• Lead by example. Provide technical mentorship to software engineers on the team, fostering a culture of continuous learning, optimization, and rigorous engineering discipline.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 2 years in Principal, Lead, or Staff capacity shipping enterprise-grade software.
• Expert-level programming skills in Python and Go, with an emphasis on writing production-quality, well-tested, and modular code.
• Experience in machine learning, statistics, or a related quantitative discipline.
• Experience building or operating production AI/ML systems, including model lifecycle management, data/training pipelines, and monitoring.
• Expertise in applying machine learning or data science techniques to cybersecurity use cases such as anomaly detection, behavioral analysis, or threat classification.
• Advanced understanding of threat detection methodologies, intrusion prevention systems, and incident response workflows.

Preferred Qualifications

• A strong fundamental understanding of network telemetry and protocols.
• Prior experience working in the cybersecurity domain. Familiarity with threat actor techniques and common network attack vectors.
• Familiarity with machine learning applications in cybersecurity.
• Understanding of threat detection, intrusion prevention, and incident response strategies.
• Deep experience with cloud services on AWS or Azure.
• Deep experience with containerization and orchestration technologies including Docker and Kubernetes at production scale.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to influence technical and non-technical audiences at the executive level.

The salary range for this role is $175,000 - $195,000 + bonus + benefits

ABOUT EXTRAHOP

ExtraHop is reinventing Network Detection and Response (NDR) to offer enterprises unparalleled visibility, context, and control against emerging threats. The platform integrates NDR with Network Performance Management (NPM), Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and forensics, providing a single, comprehensive solution. By decrypting and analyzing complete packet-level data at wire speed and leveraging cloud-scale machine learning, ExtraHop empowers Security Operations Centers (SOCs) to detect, investigate, and remediate modern cyber risks in real time across their entire hybrid infrastructure, including data center, cloud, and SASE environments.

This comprehensive approach and market innovation have earned ExtraHop unique recognition as the only NDR vendor acknowledged as a leader by all major analyst firms, including the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Network Detection and Response, the 2025 Forrester Wave for Network Analysis and Visibility, the 2024 IDC Marketscape for NDR, and the 2025 Gigamon Radar Report for Network Detection and Response. Since 2007, ExtraHop has consistently helped organizations worldwide extract in-depth network telemetry and contextual insights, affirming its commitment to protecting and empowering the connected enterprise.

OUR VALUES

Our culture is rooted in our five Values. These set the expectations for how we work individually and collectively as a team.

Lead with Purpose: We are driven to deliver results that create a positive impact for our customers, partners, and colleagues.

Act with Integrity: We operate with transparency, authenticity, and always in the best interest of the company.

Find a Way: We are resourceful, tackle hard problems with a sense of urgency and ownership, and do what it takes to get the job done.

Innovate: We listen to customers, partners, and the market, and respectfully push boundaries and challenge the status quo.

Share Success: We run together, we win together. We value diverse perspectives, hold space for all voices, and achieve the best results as a team.

BENEFITS

Employees' wellbeing is top of mind for the ExtraHop team.

• Health, Dental, and Vision Benefits
• Flexible PTO, Sick Time Prorated Based On Date of Hire, and All Federal Holidays (US Only) + 3 Days of Paid Volunteer Time
• Non-Commissioned Positions may be eligible to participate in the Annual Discretionary Bonus Plan
• FSA and Dependent Care Accounts + EAP, where applicable
• Educational Reimbursement
• 401k with Employer Match or Pension where applicable
• Pet Insurance (US Only)
• Parental Leave (US Only)
• Hybrid and Remote Work Model

Our people are our most important competitive advantage, leading the charge against cyber criminals. Join the fight today!

To learn more, visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn.