Sr. Principal Data Engineer - Data Ingestion Pipeline

Palo Alto Networks; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 184,000 - 297,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks seeks a Data Pipeline Engineer to architect and scale high-volume data pipelines ingesting logs and telemetry from our security engines. You will transform massive data streams into actionable intelligence powering threat detection and analytics in real time.

Ideal candidates have strong backend streaming experience, cloud infrastructure on GCP, proficiency in Go, Python, or Java, and hands-on work with OTEL, time-series databases, and modern data warehouses.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 14+ years of software or data engineering experience with distributed, high-throughput streaming data pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and scale high-throughput log and telemetry ingest pipelines with ultra-low latency.
• Implement observability frameworks using OpenTelemetry to capture traces, metrics, and logs across microservices.
• Architect and manage a performant trace lake to store, index, and query network forensics for threat hunting and ML training.
• Develop and maintain benchmark infrastructure to validate pipeline performance, latency, reliability, and data integrity.

Skills

Go

Python

Java

GCP

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

ClickHouse

Elasticsearch

OpenTelemetry

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.

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

As a Data Pipeline Engineer, you will be the architect of our high-volume data ecosystem. You will build and scale the critical pipelines that ingest logs and telemetry from our high-performance engines, transforming massive streams of data into actionable intelligence. Your work will directly power our advanced threat detection capabilities by ensuring our security platforms have reliable, real-time access to network traces and operational metrics at massive scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and scale high-throughput log and telemetry ingest pipelines capable of processing massive data streams from our distributed inline security engines with ultra-low latency.
• Implement and standardize observability frameworks using OpenTelemetry (OTEL) to capture distributed tracing, metrics, and logs across complex, microservices-based architectures.
• Architect and manage a highly performant trace lake to store, index, and query deep network forensics, facilitating rapid threat hunting and machine learning model training.
• Develop and maintain robust benchmark infrastructure to continuously validate pipeline performance, latency, reliability, and data integrity under peak global loads.
• Partner tightly with Data Plane and Machine Learning engineering teams to ensure seamless, efficient data flow from the edge directly into our centralized analytical platforms.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Education & Experience: BS/MS in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience) with 14+ years of software or data engineering experience with a strong focus on building distributed, high-throughput streaming data pipelines (e.g., GCP Cloud Pub/Sub, Bigtable, BigQuery).
• Cloud Infrastructure: Solid, hands‑on experience designing and deploying cloud infrastructure on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Observability: Deep expertise in observability standards, specifically OpenTelemetry (OTEL), and managing large‑scale time‑series, log, or trace databases.
• Programming Skills: Exceptional programming skills in Go, Python, or Java.

Additional Experience

• Modern Systems Programming: Familiarity with the Rust programming language is highly desired.
• Performance Monitoring: Experience with measuring data pipeline processing latency metrics (e.g., tracking P90/P99 latency).
• Specific Databases: Familiarity with managing and querying large‑scale databases such as ClickHouse and Elasticsearch.
• Infrastructure-as-Code: Proven experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g., Terraform) and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes.
• Data Architecture: Strong understanding of data modeling, data governance, and optimization for distributed storage systems.

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.

$183,600.00 - $297,000.00/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