Sr Staff AI Engineer

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

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a Sr Staff AI Engineer to shape the AI-first enterprise platform strategy from Santa Clara, CA. You will set architectural direction, drive cross-team initiatives, and establish reusable standards for scalable AI systems.

The role requires 8+ years of software leadership, deep full-stack expertise, and experience delivering AI-enabled, production-grade architectures using LLMs, RAG, and tool calling. Onsite in Santa Clara with Visa sponsorship.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Minimum 8 years of software engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership across complex, production-scale systems.
• Deep expertise in full-stack and distributed systems engineering.
• Experience setting architecture and technical direction across multiple services, applications, or engineering teams.
• Production experience designing and building AI-integrated systems using LLMs, RAG, tool calling, and agentic workflows.
• Strong understanding of AI evaluation, guardrails, model reliability, security, latency, and production observability.
• Strong understanding of APIs, enterprise data, system integration, cloud-native architecture, and production operations.
• Proven ability to turn ambiguous business problems into clear technical architectures and execution strategies.
• Track record of establishing technical standards and influencing senior engineers and cross-functional stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Set the architectural vision and technical direction for AI-first enterprise applications and platforms across multiple business domains.
• Lead architecture and delivery of complex systems spanning full-stack applications, cloud-native services, and applied AI, working across teams.
• Create reusable engineering standards, reference architectures, and shared capabilities for AI-first systems, including agentic workflows and RAG.
• Partner with senior leaders to translate ambiguous, high-impact problems into clear technical strategies and influence broader direction.
• Apply AI-native engineering practices and modern development workflows using Cursor and Claude Code to improve velocity.
• Mentor senior engineers, raise engineering standards, and multiply technical impact across the organization.

Skills

Bachelor’s degree

8+ years experience

Full-stack & distributed systems

Architecture direction

AI-integrated systems (LLMs, RAG, tool

AI evaluation & security & observabil

APIs & enterprise data & cloud-native

Technical standards & cross-functional

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

Cursor

Claude Code

TypeScript

Node.js

NestJS

React

Python

SQL

LLMs

RAG

vector databases

LangChain

LangGraph

MCP

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Palo Alto Networks is hiring a Sr Staff AI Engineer to help shape the technical future of AI-first enterprise systems. This onsite role in Santa Clara, CA supports the Information Technology team building and maintaining the enterprise applications and infrastructure that power business workflows.

In this position, you will set architectural direction for complex, cross-team AI initiatives, establish reusable standards, and lead delivery across full-stack, cloud-native, and applied AI systems.

What you’ll do

• Set the architectural vision and technical direction for AI-first enterprise applications and platforms across multiple business domains.
• Lead architecture and delivery of complex systems spanning full-stack applications, cloud-native services, and applied AI, working across teams.
• Create reusable engineering standards, reference architectures, and shared capabilities for AI-first systems, including agentic workflows and RAG.
• Partner with senior leaders to translate ambiguous, high-impact problems into clear technical strategies and influence broader direction.
• Apply AI-native engineering practices and modern development workflows using tools such as Cursor and Claude Code to improve velocity.
• Mentor senior engineers, raise engineering standards, and multiply technical impact across the organization.

What you bring

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Minimum 8 years of software engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership across complex, production-scale systems.
• Deep expertise in full-stack and distributed systems engineering.
• Experience setting architecture and technical direction across multiple services, applications, or engineering teams.
• Production experience designing and building AI-integrated systems using LLMs, RAG, tool calling, and agentic workflows.
• Strong understanding of AI evaluation, guardrails, model reliability, security, latency, and production observability.
• Strong understanding of APIs, enterprise data, system integration, cloud-native architecture, and production operations.
• Proven ability to turn ambiguous business problems into clear technical architectures and execution strategies.
• Track record of establishing technical standards and influencing senior engineers and cross-functional stakeholders.

Technologies you may work with

• Cursor, Claude Code
• TypeScript, Node.js, NestJS, React
• Python, SQL
• LLMs, RAG, vector databases, LangChain, LangGraph, MCP
• Docker, Kubernetes

Additional preferred qualifications

• Proficiency in TypeScript, Node.js/NestJS, React, Python, and SQL.
• Experience with RAG architectures, vector databases, semantic search, retrieval, and context engineering.
• Experience with LangChain/LangGraph, MCP, A2A protocols, and production agentic architectures.
• Experience establishing evaluation frameworks, LLM security controls, prompt injection defenses, and input/output validation.
• Experience with applied machine learning, data science, predictive modeling, or statistical analysis techniques.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, event-driven systems, and modern cloud infrastructure.
• Experience using AI-native development environments such as Cursor, Claude Code, or Windsurf in professional workflows.
• Experience building reusable enterprise platforms or shared technical capabilities adopted across multiple teams.

Compensation and eligibility

• Salary range: $163,200.00 - $264,000.00 per year.
• Immigration sponsorship: Yes.