Senior Principal Backend Engineer — Cloud AI Security

Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); Hybrid; USD 184,000 - 297,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks in Santa Clara is seeking a Software Engineer to build scalable backend services and the control plane for our next-generation security platform. You will develop APIs and microservices in Golang or Python, and deploy them on Kubernetes within Google Cloud Platform.

You will work on high‑throughput data pipelines, implement automated testing, CI/CD, and monitoring to ensure reliability at global scale.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 14+ years of software engineering experience, focused on backend systems, platform architecture, or distributed cloud services.
• Deep programming expertise in Golang or Python is required.
• Proven track record of building and scaling RESTful APIs, gRPC services, and event-driven microservices.
• Extensive experience with Docker and Kubernetes.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain highly scalable, fault-tolerant backend services and APIs that serve as the backbone for our new security platform.
• Develop the robust control plane that orchestrates security policies, manages configurations, and coordinates deployments across distributed environments.
• Write clean, performant, and secure code, with a primary focus on Golang or Python, ensuring system reliability under massive scale.
• Architect and deploy microservices using container orchestration (Kubernetes) across Google Cloud Platform (GCP) infrastructure.
• Build robust integration layers bridging the gap between high-speed data planes, massive telemetry pipelines, and user-facing management consoles.
• Champion software engineering best practices, including rigorous automated testing, CI/CD pipeline development, and comprehensive system monitoring.

Skills

Golang

Python

RESTful APIs

gRPC

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science or related field

Equivalent practical experience

14+ years backend experience

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Palo Alto Networks in Santa Clara is seeking a Software Engineer to build scalable backend services and the control plane for our next-generation security platform. You will develop APIs and microservices in Golang or Python, and deploy them on Kubernetes within Google Cloud Platform.

You will work on high‑throughput data pipelines, implement automated testing, CI/CD, and monitoring to ensure reliability at global scale.