Principal Engineer - Core Engineering (NetSec)

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.
Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Job Description

Your Career

We are looking for an exceptional Principal Engineer to lead the technical design and implementation of critical infrastructure,SRE and DevOps solutions. This role demands deep technical expertise in modern DevOps & SRE practices, distributed systems, and cloud-native technologies. You will focus on building scalable frameworks, driving automation, and enhancing operational maturity across engineering teams.

As the Principal Engineer of the Core DevOPs team part of NetSeC cloud infrastructure and platform engineering(CIPE) org, you will play a pivotal role in building the technical backbone that supports Palo Alto Networks’ SASE global scale. Your work will directly influence the reliability, scalability, and efficiency of systems across the SASE organization, driving innovation and operational excellence.

What We Offer:

• A highly technical and collaborative environment
• Opportunities to work on cutting-edge technologies and solve complex challenges
• A chance to shape the future of DevOps and SRE practices at a leading cybersecurity company

Your Impact

• Core DevOps Framework 
  • Architect and implement a unified DevOps framework to integrate and standardize provisioning and deployment pipelines from multiple product teams
  • Develop a “one-click” infrastructure and deployment solution to simplify and accelerate delivery processes across teams
  • Leverage technologies such as Kubernetes, Terraform, and gitlab systems to create scalable and modular frameworks
• Cloud Cost Observability and Optimization
  • Extend existing FinOps platforms to provide granular, real-time cloud cost observability and actionable insights for engineering teams
  • Build automated cost anomaly detection systems and remediation workflows using cloud-native tools and custom solutions
  • Implement policy-as-code frameworks for cost management and resource optimization
• DevOps/SRE Maturity Automation
  • Design automated scorecard systems to continuously assess and benchmark the DevOps and SRE maturity of individual teams
  • Build telemetry systems and dashboards that provide actionable insights into reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency metrics
• Infrastructure and Tooling Expertise
  • Drive adoption of best practices in infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, and observability platforms
  • Collaborate with engineering teams to identify gaps and develop solutions for improving reliability, scalability, and performance
  • Evaluate and introduce cutting-edge tools, frameworks, and practices that align with the organization’s technical strategy

Qualifications

Your Impact

Technical Depth

• 7+ years in software engineering, technology architecture, and DevOps with a demonstrated ability to design, implement, and maintain secure, scalable, and resilient systems to support software development and deployment
• BS in CS, CE, EE or relevant field or equivalent military experience 
• Extensive experience in designing and building scalable cloud-native infrastructure on platforms like AWS, GCP, or Azure
• Strong expertise in container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes), service mesh architectures, and infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform, Pulumi)
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Go, or Java for automation and tool development
• Deep knowledge of distributed systems and cloud platform concepts 
• Solid understanding of fundamental CI/CD, GitOps, and DevOps concepts and experience with building pipelines using technologies such as gitlab and jenkins
• Proven high-growth startup experience in scaling and supporting engineering teams, with the ability to lead by example and foster a high-performance culture

Operational Excellence

• Deep understanding of distributed systems, reliability engineering, and incident management
• Experience with building observability pipelines, including metrics, logs, and distributed tracing (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry)
• Familiarity with database technologies such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, and NoSQL systems, with a focus on reliability and scalability

Cost Optimization Expertise

• Practical experience with FinOps practices, including cost observability, anomaly detection, and policy enforcement
• Experience building automated workflows for cost reduction and cloud resource optimization

DevOps Leadership

• Proven ability to design frameworks and tools that are adopted across multiple teams and scale effectively
• Strong understanding of CI/CD principles, pipeline optimization, and deployment strategies
• Ability to assess team maturity using data-driven methodologies and deliver tailored solutions to enhance operational practices

Additional Information

The Team

Our engineering team is at the core of our products – connected directly to the mission of preventing cyberattacks. We are constantly innovating – challenging the way we, and the industry, think about cybersecurity. Our engineers don’t shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before.

We define the industry, instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of a challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital environment.and downtime.

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/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $147000 - $237500/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

#LI-TD1

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that 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  accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com.

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.