Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Zscaler; Town of Santa Clara (NY); Hybrid; USD 152,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

Parental leave

Retirement options

Job summary

Zscaler is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer to join the AI Guard team in the United States with a hybrid preference for Santa Clara, CA. You will design, build, and deploy end-to-end ML pipelines inside the world’s largest cloud security platform, impacting our global strategy.

You will develop deep learning models for security, adapt open-weight LLMs, and optimize production serving across AWS and GCP to balance latency, cost, and quality.

Qualifications

• Design, train, and deploy intelligent ML systems at scale.
• Strong Python and deep learning framework experience.
• U.S. citizenship due to customers.

Responsibilities

• Build and deploy end-to-end ML pipelines for data curation, training, evaluation, and serving.
• Develop deep learning models for security use cases including transformers and embedding models.
• Fine-tune and productionize open-weight LLMs and small language models.
• Optimize models for production throughput and latency across cloud platforms.

Skills

AI/ML frameworks

Python

LLMs

Data pipelines

Transformer models

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

JAX

Job description

Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) accelerates digital transformation so customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Distributed across 200+ public data centers globally and thousands of private sites at the edge, the SASE-based Zero Trust Exchange is the world’s largest in-line cloud security platform.

We believe the future of work is Human + AI and are building an AI-native enterprise where human potential is amplified by machine intelligence to solve the world’s hardest security challenges. Driven by deep customer obsession, we are committed to the mission, outcome, and to each other. We bring these commitments to life through three core behaviors: ownership and collaboration, trust through outcomes and impact, and a challenge culture with ongoing feedback. Ready to make an impact at the company pioneering security transformation in the AI era? Join us at Zscaler.

Role

We are looking for a Machine Learning Engineer to join our Artificial Intelligence Guard team in a remote capacity within the United States (with a hybrid preference for Santa Clara, CA), reporting directly to the Director of AI and Machine Learning Engineering team. Operating at the core of the team that built the world’s largest cloud security platform processing over 400 billion transactions daily, you will design, build, and deploy end-to-end machine learning pipelines while integrating advanced AI capabilities into production-ready SaaS offerings to directly impact our global strategic roadmap.

What You’ll Do (Role Expectations)

• Build and deploy end-to-end ML pipelines spanning data curation, training/fine-tuning, evaluation, and high-scale serving
• Develop deep learning models for security use cases, including transformer-based classifiers, embedding models, and sequence modeling across high-volume traffic data
• Adapt, fine-tune, and productionize open-weight LLMs and small language models using techniques such as LoRA/QLoRA, instruction tuning, and distillation
• Optimize models for production through quantization, batching, and high-throughput serving with frameworks like Hugging Face, PEFT, vLLM, TensorRT-LLM, and ONNX Runtime to balance latency, cost, and quality
• Architect and operationalize robust ML services across cloud platforms (AWS, GCP) leveraging cloud-native microservice architectures

Who You Are (Success Profile)

• You enjoy being on top of the latest advancements and research in the deep learning space and you learn fast.
• You thrive on uncovering complex patterns within large, sparse datasets, leveraging a rigorous, highly numerate background to solve multifaceted business problems.
• You operate with an uncompromising sense of ownership and an execution-focused mindset, seamlessly bridging the gap between theoretical modeling and production deployment.
• You are a proactive, independent problem solver energized by engineering elegant, resilient solutions for massive-scale technical challenges.
• You possess a growth mindset and a continuous drive to learn, actively adapting to and implementing cutting‑edge machine learning advancements.
• You are a collaborative partner who excels at working cross‑functionally alongside engineering teams to champion and execute organizational AI strategies.

What We’re Looking For (Minimum Qualifications)

• Demonstrated experience utilizing modern AI/ML frameworks and foundational model workflows to design, train, and deploy intelligent systems at scale
• Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Engineering, or a related field, with 2+ years of applied ML experience
• Solid grounding in machine learning fundamentals, including loss functions, optimization, regularization, evaluation metrics, and handling imbalanced or noisy data
• Strong Python programming expertise and hands‑on experience with modern deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX
• Proven experience training/fine‑tuning large language models (LLMs) and deploying deep learning models (e.g., transformers, embedding models, generative AI architectures etc) in production environments and ability to work with large‑scale datasets, write clean, testable code, and operate with high autonomy on ambiguous technical challenges
• U.S. citizenship due to the nature of the customers assigned to this role

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Proven experience developing generative AI architectures or building scalable inference optimization pipelines
• Peer‑reviewed publications or prominent open‑source contributions demonstrating depth in modern deep learning techniques (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, IEEE)

Zscaler’s salary ranges are benchmarked and are determined by role and level. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations and could be higher or lower based on a multitude of factors, including job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

The base salary range listed for this full‑time position excludes commission/ bonus/ equity (if applicable) + benefits.

Base Pay Range

$152,000—$190,000 USD

At Zscaler, we are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and the customers we work with. We foster an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives, emphasizing collaboration and belonging. Join us in our mission to make doing business seamless and secure.

Benefits

Our Benefits program is one of the most important ways we support our employees. Zscaler proudly offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families throughout their life stages, including:

• Various health plans
• Time off plans for vacation and sick time
• Parental leave options
• Retirement options
• Education reimbursement
• In‑office perks, and more!

Learn more about Zscaler's hybrid working model and benefits here.

By applying for this role, you adhere to applicable laws, regulations, and Zscaler policies, including those related to security and privacy standards and guidelines.

Zscaler is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. We strive to create a workplace where employees are treated with respect and have the chance to succeed. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy or related medical conditions), age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

See more information by clicking on the Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal link.

Pay Transparency

Zscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules.

Zscaler is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations or adjustments) in our recruiting processes for candidates who are differently abled, have long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support.