Sr Principal Software Engineer - ADEM (Backend)

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

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a Sr Principal Software Engineer for the ADEM group in Santa Clara. You will serve as a primary architect and technical visionary for the backend data plane and control plane, shaping the infrastructure for SASE observability and scalable endpoints.

In this high-impact role, you will mentor senior engineers, define the technical roadmap, collaborate with Product, Data Science, and DevOps, and lead architectural improvements while solving complex distributed systems

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience with large-scale distributed systems.
• Expertise in AI-augmented development tools to accelerate SDLC.
• Architecting systems handling billions of events per day with sub-second latency.
• Deep knowledge of GCP (GKE, Spanner, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Dataflow) and FinOps.
• Data pipelines via Kafka, Pulsar, or Flink.
• Security, Zero Trust, L4-L7 networking, encryption standards.
• Open source contributions or speaking at conferences desirable.
• BS/MS/PhD in CS or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Define long-term architectural vision for ADEM backend services.
• Lead Design Review Board for secure, high-availability, cost-efficient patterns.
• Drive AI workflows and backend orchestration for LLM-powered remediation.
• Collaborate with Product, Data Science, and DevOps to translate requirements.
• Mentor Staff and Senior engineers, promote code quality and technical debt management.
• Own crisis leadership and post-mortems to drive architectural improvements.

Skills

AI Augmented Dev

Distributed Systems

GCP Expertise

Programming languages

Open Source

Education

CS Degree

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

Windsurf

GitHub Copilot

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

Palo Alto Networks' ADEM (Autonomous Digital Experience Management) group is seeking a Sr Principal Software Engineer to serve as a primary architect and technical visionary for our backend ecosystem. In this high‑impact role, you will be responsible for the technical roadmap of the ADEM data plane and control plane, ensuring our infrastructure remains the gold standard for SASE observability. You will solve the most complex distributed systems challenges, mentor the next generation of technical leaders, and bridge the gap between long‑term product vision and world‑class engineering execution.

Your Impact

• Technical Strategy & Roadmap: Define the long‑term architectural vision for ADEM backend services, ensuring scalability to support hundreds of millions of global endpoints and multi‑petabyte telemetry streams.

• Architectural Governance: Lead the "Design Review Board" for the ADEM org, ensuring that all new services adhere to Secure AI by Design, high‑availability patterns, and cost‑efficient GCP utilization.

• AI/ML Integration at Scale: Drive the transition from traditional analytics to Agentic AI workflows, overseeing the backend orchestration required to power LLM‑driven autonomous remediation.

• Cross‑Functional Leadership: Partner with Product Management, Data Science, and DevOps to translate ambiguous business requirements into robust, high‑performance technical specifications.

• Engineering Excellence & Mentorship: Act as a force multiplier by mentoring Staff and Senior engineers, fostering a culture of rigorous testing, high code quality, and proactive technical debt management.

• Crisis Leadership: Serve as the ultimate technical escalation point for complex, systemic production issues, leading post‑mortems that drive permanent architectural improvements.

Qualifications

Your Experience

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with a significant portion dedicated to designing and operating large‑scale distributed systems in a cloud‑native environment.

• Advanced AI‑Augmented Development: As a leader in engineering efficiency, you must be an expert in leveraging AI‑powered development tools—including Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and GitHub Copilot to radically accelerate the SDLC and automate complex refactoring and testing workflows.

• Distributed Systems Mastery: Proven track record of architecting systems that handle billions of events per day with strict sub‑second latency requirements using Rust ,Go (Golang), Java, or Python.

• GCP Principal‑Level Expertise: Deep authoritative knowledge of the GCP ecosystem (GKE, Spanner, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Dataflow) and the ability to optimize cloud spend through sophisticated architectural choices (FinOps).

• Data Plane Innovation: Experience building high‑throughput, low‑latency data pipelines using technologies like Kafka, Pulsar, or Flink.

• Security & Networking Visionary: Deep understanding of Zero Trust architecture, L4‑L7 networking, and advanced encryption standards to ensure ADEM remains the most secure platform in the industry.

• Open Source & Community: A history of contributing to open‑source projects (e.g., Kubernetes, Prometheus, Istio) or speaking at industry conferences is highly desirable.

• Education: BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent high‑level professional experience.

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