Senior AI Research Architect — Security & Runtime

Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 163,000 - 264,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks seeks a Principal Applied AI Researcher on the Prisma AIRS Runtime Security team to drive the future of AI security. You will partner with executive leadership, product management, UX designers, ML engineers, and cross‑functional teams to architect enterprise‑grade AI detection and protection solutions and lead performance optimizations.

You will mentor researchers and engineers, set research standards, and shape scalable model serving infrastructure across backend security

Qualifications

• PhD or Master’s in CS/AI/Applied Math or related field.
• Strong deep learning fundamentals with PyTorch/JAX experience.
• Proven work with LLMs, pre-training, fine-tuning, and guardrails.
• Track record of moving AI research to production at scale.
• Expert Python and deployment with high-performance inference servers.
• Clear communicators who translate complex ideas for leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross‑functional work with Product, ML, and Quality teams to deliver enterprise AI security offerings.
• Architect resilient AI detection models and scalable backend systems.
• Drive performance, latency, and throughput optimizations at scale.
• Promote modern engineering practices and reproducible research pipelines.
• Oversee large‑scale model serving infrastructure and guardrails for security products.
• Mentor senior and junior researchers and engineers toward technical excellence.

Skills

Deep Learning

LLMs

Transformers

Python

Distributed Systems

Research to Production

Education

PhD in CS/AI/Applied Math

Master’s degree

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

vLLM

Triton

ONNX

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Palo Alto Networks seeks a Principal Applied AI Researcher on the Prisma AIRS Runtime Security team to drive the future of AI security. You will partner with executive leadership, product management, UX designers, ML engineers, and cross‑functional teams to architect enterprise‑grade AI detection and protection solutions and lead performance optimizations.

You will mentor researchers and engineers, set research standards, and shape scalable model serving infrastructure across backend security