Principal Software Engineer (Wildfire) Santa Clara, California, United States

Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 156,000 - 253,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is seeking a Software Engineer to develop, maintain, and scale our cloud-based security platform infrastructure (WildFire) that protects customers from evolving threats.

You will contribute to design, code, and deploy features on cloud-native microservices, primarily using Python and Golang, within a collaborative, fast-paced team. You will design and implement robust services, participate in architecture decisions, and ensure performance, reliability, and security at

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS/CE or related field.
• 6+ years of software development experience.

Responsibilities

• Participate in the full software development life cycle from requirements to deployment and support.
• Write clean, scalable Python and Golang code for high-volume cloud infrastructure.
• Contribute to design discussions and help evolve microservices architecture.
• Collaborate across teams to ensure reliable, secure malware detection services.

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field

Tools

Python

Golang

REST/GRPC APIs

Distributed systems

Cloud native (GCP/AWS)

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

We are seeking a Software Engineer to develop, build, and maintain our cutting edge cloud based, security product Infrastructure, which operates at massive scale and helps protect customers against constantly evolving online threats and attacks. Bring your software engineering expertise to work on our cutting edge malware detection platform, WildFire.

We want passionate engineers who love to design and code world-class security services on Cloud Providers. Engineers who bring new ideas in all facets of software development, individual contributors who want to expand their skill set, take ownership of their feature areas and who are driven to solve problems at every level. Participate in the design, deployment and scaling of our architecture as we transform it by using cloud native solutions on GCP. Participate in the redesign of the architecture to introduce appropriate microservices to process high rates of sample submissions. Collaboration and teamwork are at the foundation of our culture and we need engineers who can communicate and work well with others towards achieving a common goal.

Your Impact

• Participate in the complete software development life cycle including requirement analysis, design, development, deployment and support
• Write clean, testable, readable, scalable and maintainable Python, C, Golang code that scales and performs well for thousands of customers
• Participate actively and contribute to design and development discussions
• Be able to clearly communicate goals and desired outcomes to internal project teams

Qualifications

Your Experience

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 6+ years of experience
• Hands on experience writing production high quality scalable code in Python, Golang keeping performance in mind.
• Strong knowledge of data structures, algorithms, operating systems, and distributed systems fundamentals.
• Great design and architecture skills, turning an idea into a production grade design.
• Very strong knowledge of databases, storage, and distributed persistence technologies.
• Hands on experience with databases like SQL/NoSQL and other modern databases is a plus
• Experience with writing asynchronous code in multi-threaded and multi-processes env
• Good to have a cloud-native service development stack on GCP/AWS or other clouds.
• Experience with building REST/grpc API services
• Writing code with quality in mind from the get go.
• Experience working with queuing system such as pubsub, RabbitMQ or Kafka
• Exposure to using configuration management tools such as argocd, Ansible and/or Terraform
• You enjoy working in a collaborative environment Strong problem solving and troubleshooting skills

#LI-TD1

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.

$156,400.00 - $253,000.00/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?: Yes