Senior Principal Engineer – Layer 7 Security

Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 147,000 - 237,500; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is seeking a Senior Principal Software Engineer in Santa Clara, CA. This role requires leading the design and development of next-generation Layer 7 security capabilities. Candidates should have extensive experience in software engineering, particularly in systems programming and distributed systems, along with expertise in C and Go. The position offers a competitive salary range of $147,000 - $237,500 per year and is aligned with Palo Alto Networks’ commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant time in senior technical leadership roles.
• Proven experience designing and building large-scale, high-performance distributed systems.
• Ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, design, and development of advanced Layer 7 security capabilities.
• Drive the development of highly scalable, real-time, distributed cloud security systems.
• Partner with product management and platform teams to translate complex requirements into executable designs.

Skills

C

Go

Unix/Linux environments

Networking fundamentals

Multi-threaded design

Data structures

Algorithms

System-level performance optimization

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Computer Science or related technical field

Tools

OpenSSL

Python

Job description

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is seeking a Senior Principal Software Engineer in Santa Clara, CA. This role requires leading the design and development of next-generation Layer 7 security capabilities. Candidates should have extensive experience in software engineering, particularly in systems programming and distributed systems, along with expertise in C and Go. The position offers a competitive salary range of $147,000 - $237,500 per year and is aligned with Palo Alto Networks’ commitment to diversity and inclusion.