Palo Alto Networks

Principal Software Engineer (Cloud Platform and AI Engineering)

Palo Alto Networks$147K — $237K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent military experience required
  • 8+ years of experience with large cloud infrastructure platforms
  • Strong proficiency in Python and/or GoLang
  • Hands-on experience building AI agents or agentic workflows
  • Experience with MCP or similar agent-tool integration patterns
  • Practical experience with LLMs and prompt engineering
  • Solid skills in multi-threaded and multi-process programming

Responsibilities

  • Own the architecture and technical roadmap for AI agentic workflows
  • Design and scale backend systems on GCP integrating AI capabilities
  • Drive the adoption of GCP-native AI tools and define team methodologies
  • Partner with product managers and researchers to develop AI-driven solutions
  • Set engineering standards for AI-augmented services in production
  • Influence technical direction organizationally and mentor engineers

Benefits

  • Comprehensive employee benefits package
  • Opportunities for professional growth and development
  • Innovative work environment focusing on cutting-edge technologies
  • Flexible working arrangements
  • Collaborative team culture promoting mentorship
Full Job Description
Job Summary

Your Career

Our ATP Cloud team is at the forefront of integrating AI into cybersecurity infrastructure - building intelligent systems that fundamentally change how we detect, respond to, and resolve incidents at scale. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will own the technical vision for our AI-powered platform, shaping how agentic workflows and LLM-driven automation are built into the backbone of our cloud services on GCP. This is a high-impact role where your decisions will directly influence product direction and team growth.

Your Impact
  • Own the architecture and technical roadmap for AI agentic workflows that automate complex operational and engineering challenges
  • Design and scale backend systems on GCP that seamlessly integrate AI capabilities into production services
  • Drive the adoption of GCP-native AI tools (Vertex AI Agent Builder, Google ADK) and define how our team builds and ships AI agents
  • Partner with product managers, cybersecurity researchers, and AI application teams to translate business problems into AI-driven solutions
  • Set the engineering bar for the team - establish best practices for building, testing, and operating AI-augmented services in production
  • Influence technical direction across the organization and mentor engineers to grow their cloud and AI expertise


Qualifications

Your Experience
  • BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent military experience required
  • 8+ years of experience working on large cloud infrastructure platforms
  • Strong proficiency in Python and/or GoLang
  • Hands-on experience building AI agents or agentic workflows (e.g., using Google ADK, Vertex AI Agent Builder, or custom agent frameworks)
  • Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar agent-tool integration patterns
  • Practical experience working with LLMs, prompt engineering, and integrating AI models into backend services
  • Experience building semantic layers, KV caching, or similar techniques to optimize LLM performance and reduce inference cost
  • Solid skills in multi-threaded and multi-process programming and experience in distributed systems
  • Strong microservice development experience
  • Rich GCP experience and its suite of managed services (Vertex AI, Pub/Sub, GKE, Cloud Run, Secret Manager)
  • Solid knowledge and skills in Linux, Kubernetes, and Docker
  • Solid knowledge of web servers/proxies such as NGINX, Envoy
  • Comprehensive experience with SQL and NoSQL technologies such as MySQL, Redis, BigQuery
  • Hands-on experience with messaging/queuing systems such as Pub/Sub or Kafka
  • Solid understanding of system design, scalability, optimization, and performance metrics
  • Exceptional problem-solving skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment
  • Teamwork, problem-solving, and a can-do attitude


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.

$147,000.00 - $237,500.00/yr

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is an American multinational cybersecurity company with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Its core products are a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security. The company serves over 70,000 organizations in over 150 countries, including 85 of the Fortune 100. It is home to the Unit 42 threat research team and hosts the Ignite cybersecurity conference.
Learn more about Palo Alto Networks
Size
11,870 employees
Market Cap
$42.6 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$368.2 million
Founded
2005
5 Year Trend
+25.7%
Revenue
$3.7 billion
NASDAQ

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