Staff Software Engineer – AI-Driven Distributed Platform

Zscaler; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 152,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

Time off

Parental leave

Retirement options

Education reimbursement

In-office perks

Job summary

Zscaler, Santa Clara, CA, seeks a Staff Software Development Engineer to lead design and development of scalable, secure control plane platform services powering the Zero Trust Exchange.

You will drive architecture, influence strategy across teams, and mentor engineers while delivering high-availability systems with strong observability and reliability. This role emphasizes pragmatic execution and technical leadership.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience with large-scale distributed systems
• Deep expertise in system design, microservices, API design, and data modeling
• Proficiency in Java, Go, or Python with production-grade software
• Experience leading cross-team architectural decisions and influencing direction
• Strong knowledge of cloud-native technologies, observability, reliability engineering, and secure software practices
• Curiosity about AI tools and integrating new technologies into workflows

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and delivery of large-scale control plane and platform services
• Drive cross-team initiatives and align stakeholders on architecture and plans
• Identify bottlenecks and improve reliability, observability, and performance across distributed systems
• Mentor senior engineers and uphold engineering standards across the organization
• Evaluate and apply emerging technologies, including AI-assisted workflows, to improve productivity and outcomes

Skills

AI tools exploration

Distributed systems

Backend design

Java

Go

Python

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

Cloud-native

CI/CD

Git

Job description

Zscaler, Santa Clara, CA, seeks a Staff Software Development Engineer to lead design and development of scalable, secure control plane platform services powering the Zero Trust Exchange.

You will drive architecture, influence strategy across teams, and mentor engineers while delivering high-availability systems with strong observability and reliability. This role emphasizes pragmatic execution and technical leadership.