Role

We're looking for a Principal Software Development Engineer to join our team. Based out of our San Jose headquarters (Hybrid 3 days/week) or available as a remote opportunity within the Pacific Timezone, you will report to the Senior Manager, Software Engineering within the Zero Trust Exchange department.

As a Principal Software Engineer you will build the backend systems that keep the product fast, reliable, and able to scale as usage grows. You will create microservices and event-driven workflows, and ensure data can be ingested and queried efficiently across relational, graph, and time-series databases. You will also drive cross-team execution by collaborating closely with multiple groups to deliver high-quality results on tight timelines.

What you'll do (Role Expectations)

• Architect and deliver scalable microservices on EKS (GoLang): design, build, and operate production services that meet uptime, latency, and scale goals
• Build event-driven pipelines with Kafka and MQTT: implement asynchronous workflows that are resilient, observable, and easy to evolve as product needs change
• Design high-performance data models and access patterns: optimize ingest and querying across RDS MySQL, Neo4J, and ElasticSearch for correctness, speed, and cost efficiency
• Harden production readiness and operational excellence: establish monitoring, alerting, tracing, and on-call standards; drive root-cause fixes and reliability improvements
• Lead cross-team delivery and technical direction: align stakeholders, break down complex work, and execute quickly while maintaining a high bar for quality and security

Who You Are (Success Profile)

• You act like an owner. Your passion for the mission fuels your bias for action. You operate with integrity because you genuinely care about the outcome. You adapt to what's needed, navigating seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution.
• You are a problem-solver. You seek out challenges because you are energized by finding solutions, knowing that solving the hard problems delivers the biggest impact.
• You are a positive force. You approach hard problems with constructive energy and a 'can-do' spirit that is contagious, inspiring your team to stay focused on the solution.
• You are a pragmatic builder. You are obsessed with creating, iterating, and shipping. You aren't afraid to roll up your sleeves and build the first version yourself, balancing the drive for technical excellence with the need to deliver value to users quickly.
• You champion simplicity. You are skilled at distilling complex problems, user needs, and technical concepts into clear, simple, and actionable plans. You are a precise communicator who brings clarity and focus to every interaction.

What We're Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)

• 12+ years of experience in backend engineering designing and shipping highly scalable microservices in production developed in Go
• Proven experience with event-driven, asynchronous architectures using messaging/streaming platforms such as Kafka
• Strong data engineering and persistence skills building efficient ingest and query patterns across relational databases (MySQL) plus at least one of ElasticSearch or Neo4J
• Hands-on experience running services on Kubernetes (ideally EKS), including deployment, troubleshooting, and operational ownership

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Proven ability to profile and optimize distributed systems end-to-end (latency, throughput, resource usage), including performance tuning across services, databases, and messaging
• Strong track record designing debuggability/observability for distributed applications-structured logging, metrics, distributed tracing, and actionable dashboards/alerts for rapid incident triage
• Experience defining and operationalizing SLIs/SLOs (error budgets, alert policies, reliability reporting) and driving product decisions based on measured service health

#LI-Hybrid

#LI-CM3

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

$185,500-$265,000 USD

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.