Staff Software Engineer(Cloudops)

Palo Alto Networks; California (MO); On-site; USD 124,000 - 202,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking an AI-Native Cloud Software Engineer to design, build, and optimize distributed cloud applications across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

You will bridge deep systems engineering with AI-powered orchestration, aiming for self-healing, scalable infrastructure and secure deployment pipelines in a collaborative, in-person-first environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in Cloud Software Engineering, SRE, or Distributed Systems Infrastructure.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience integrating AI tools, LLMs, or predictive analytics into deployment workflows.
• Experience with at least two major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Kubernetes expertise (CKA preferred) and cloud-native networking.

Responsibilities

• Architect and maintain multi-cloud generative IaC & software-defined infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• Develop intelligent automation and autonomous agents for provisioning, auto-scaling, and self-healing systems.
• Implement AI-driven cloud governance, spend analysis, and real-time optimization actions.
• Embed security into deployment pipelines with AI-assisted auditing and patching.

Skills

TypeScript (Node.js)

Go

Python

LLM APIs integration

Multi-Cloud architectures

Kubernetes (CKA)

CI/CD (GitHub Actions / GitLab CI)

Linux fundamentals

Distributed systems

Tools

Pulumi

AWS CDK

Terraform

LangChain

CrewAI

OpenTelemetry

Prometheus

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 Staff Software Engineer Cloud Ops

As an AI-Native Cloud Software Engineer, you won't just manage environments; you will build the software engines, intelligent pipelines, and autonomous systems that power our cloud presence. We are shifting from rigid configuration management to AI-driven, self-healing software architectures. You will design, develop, and optimize highly available, distributed cloud applications and infrastructure services across AWS, Azure, and GCP. Treating the entire cloud ecosystem as a programmable, AI-orchestrated software entity, you will bridge the gap between deep systems engineering, application development, and LLM-powered systems orchestration.

Key Responsibilities

• Multi-Cloud Generative IaC & Software-Defined Infrastructure: Architect and maintain scalable cloud systems across AWS, Azure, and GCP using Pulumi, AWS CDK, or Terraform. Integrate AI development workflows and custom LLM agents to accelerate safe infrastructure compilation, drift detection, and automated cross-cloud refactoring.
• Intelligent Automation & Agentic Workflows: Engineer custom software utilities, internal services, and autonomous agents using (TypeScript/Node.js, Go, or Python, alongside frameworks like LangChain or CrewAI) to orchestrate complex provisioning, predictive auto-scaling, and closed-loop self-healing systems.
• AI-Driven Cloud Governance & Economics: Leverage predictive machine learning models to analyze multi-cloud spend patterns, autonomously executing real-time resource-optimization strategies via API-driven software actions (e.g., dynamic spot-instance bidding, intelligent right-sizing across AWS, Azure, and GCP).
• Cognitive Observability & Infrastructure Security: Implement next-gen observability frameworks (OpenTelemetry, Prometheus) coupled with AI anomaly detection. Embed security directly into the deployment pipeline, utilizing LLMs to automatically audit Cloud IAM policies, scan for vulnerabilities, and generate contextual patches.
• Intelligent Container Orchestration: Manage production-grade Kubernetes clusters (EKS, AKS, GKE). Optimize resource allocation, cluster auto-scaling, and service meshes using AI-driven traffic routing and predictive capacity planning.
• Autonomous Incident Response: Act as a tier-3 software escalation engineer for complex distributed systems anomalies. Help design and train our internal "On-Call AI Agent" to ingest logs, perform automated Root Cause Analysis (RCA), and submit pre-validated Pull Requests to resolve underlying system defects.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Software Engineering & AI Orchestration: Strong software engineering fundamentals in TypeScript (Node.js), Go, or Python. Experience interfacing with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock), vector databases, and prompt engineering for systems-level orchestration.
• Multi-Cloud & Containers: Deep proficiency in at least two major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) with a strong architectural understanding of the third. Expert-level knowledge of Kubernetes (CKA preferred) and cloud-native networking.
• Next-Gen CI/CD: Experience building intelligent delivery pipelines using GitHub Actions or GitLab CI, featuring integrated automated testing, security gates, and AI-assisted code reviews.
• Systems Mastery: Deep understanding of Linux internals, distributed systems architecture, asynchronous programming patterns, and performance tuning.
• Qualifications Professional Experience 6+ years of experience in Cloud Software Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), or Distributed Systems Infrastructure. 2+ years of hands-on experience integrating AI tools, LLMs, or predictive analytics into deployment workflows, pipelines, or software platforms. Proven track record of architecting and operating large-scale, high-throughput distributed systems.

Soft Skills & Mindset

• Agentic Problem-Solving: A mindset that moves past "how do I automate this task?" to "how do I build an autonomous system that solves this permanently?"
• Collaborative AI-First Culture: Ability to partner with Core AI/ML teams to bridge the gap between model deployment and high-availability cloud infrastructure.

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.

$124,000.00 - $201,500.00/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? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position. Please use this form to provide us with information that will help direct your request and find your data in all of our systems