Palo Alto Networks

Staff Software Engineer

Palo Alto Networks$126K — $204K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of full-stack experience with the MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express, Angular, Node.js) and modernizing legacy frameworks.
  • Proven expertise in cloud engineering, especially within AWS ecosystems.
  • Strong ability to navigate complex systems, including APIs and identity management.
  • In-depth knowledge of secure web development, including OWASP Top 10 and Zero Trust principles.
  • Excellent communicator capable of facilitating design sessions and mentoring junior engineers.
  • Dedicated to operational excellence through testing and monitoring integration in development.
  • Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

  • Lead technical initiatives from problem discovery to implementation for the IGA platform.
  • Translate ambiguous business problems into technical solutions with high autonomy.
  • Establish engineering standards to enhance testability and performance of solutions.
  • Design cross-functional architectures balancing product needs and security requirements.
  • Conduct design reviews and mentor teams on best engineering practices.
  • Foster trust through effective communication and collaboration with product partners.
  • Drive strategic alignment on technical decisions across stakeholders.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work flexibility for Newton, MA area candidates.
Full Job Description
Job Summary

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the technical evolution of our Identity Governance & Administration (IGA) platform. This is a role for a deeply technical, hands-on engineer who thrives on solving the "hard problems" and setting the pace for the team. You will be a primary driver of our codebase, delivering high-impact features while ensuring our architecture remains secure, observable, and performant. As a senior technical presence, you will naturally uplevel the engineers around you by demonstrating engineering excellence in practice-shaping the platform through superior code, insightful design reviews, and the practical application of engineering standards.

What You'll Do
  • Drive End-to-End Initiatives: Lead technical initiatives across Identity Governance & Administration (IGA), from problem discovery and design through implementation, rollout, and long-term ownership.
  • Execute with Autonomy: Operate with a high degree of autonomy, translating ambiguous business and product problems into well-designed technical solutions.
  • Define and Govern Standards: Establish engineering benchmarks to enhance the testability, observability, and performance of all technical solutions.
  • Architect Complex Systems: Design cross-functional architectures that effectively balance product requirements with rigorous security constraints.
  • Mentor and Uplevel Teams: Lead design reviews and architecture discussions while coaching engineers on implementation, testing, and security best practices.
  • Drive Strategic Alignment: Build trust through clear communication and lightweight RFCs, collaborating with product partners to influence outcomes without formal authority.

#LI-KR1

Qualifications
  • Full-Stack Technical Expertise: 10+ years extensive experience with the MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express, Angular, Node.js) and modernizing legacy frameworks.
  • Cloud Architecture & Infrastructure: Proven track record in cloud engineering environments, with a primary focus on AWS ecosystems.
  • Systems-Level Thinking: Ability to reason across complex layers-including APIs, identity, and observability-to make technical trade-offs explicit and decisions durable.
  • Security-First Mindset: Deep practical knowledge of secure web development, including OWASP Top 10 mitigation, Zero Trust principles, and Least Privilege access.
  • Collaborative Leadership: Strong communicator skilled at facilitating cross-team design sessions, mentoring and "leveling up" more junior engineers, and driving consensus across stakeholders.
  • Operational Excellence: Committed to building highly observable and performant systems by integrating testing and monitoring into the core development lifecycle.
  • Excellent written, verbal, and cross-functional communication skills, especially when working with product, design, and non-engineering stakeholders.
  • Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
  • Ability to work a hybrid schedule in the Newton, MA area.


Nice to Have
  • Security & Identity Specialization: Working knowledge of Identity & Access Management (IAM), PAM, IGA, and robust secrets management for security-centric products.
  • Design Systems at Scale: Experience managing cross-product component governance and maintaining unified design languages across large-scale applications.
  • Modern DevOps Practices: Familiarity with observability tools, feature flagging strategies, and implementing progressive delivery within CI/CD pipelines.
  • Performance & Scalability: Proficiency in load and stress testing using tools like JMeter to ensure system resilience and identify architectural bottlenecks before production.
  • Data Privacy & Compliance: Familiarity with privacy-by-design principles and technical implementations for GDPR, CCPA, or SOC2 compliance, particularly regarding data anonymization and auditability.
  • Advanced Frontend Tooling: Fluency in TypeScript, RxJS, and Signals, complemented by modern testing frameworks like Jest, Playwright, or Cypress.


Impact

You will be a cornerstone of the technical foundation and engineering culture behind our flagship IGA experience. By leading from the codebase, you will transform ambitious product visions into high-performance, secure realities that our customers trust. Your influence will be felt through the durability of the systems you build and the rising caliber of the engineers you work alongside. Ultimately, you will bridge the gap between legacy challenges and modern solutions, creating a maintainable, enterprise-grade platform that empowers our teams to ship with confidence and speed.

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.

$126,000.00 - $204,500.00/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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