Staff Software Engineer

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

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 1+ years in Software Engineering or Systems Integration with a primary emphasis on backend development and cloud security.

• Backend Python Depth: Production-level mastery of Python for asynchronous backend services, API frameworks (FastAPI, Flask, or gRPC), and microservice architectures.

• Core Software & API Development: Experience developing, debugging, and integrating enterprise APIs (REST, gRPC, WebSockets) and API gateways (e.g., Envoy, Kong).

• Data Transformation: Experience writing code to map, translate, and standardize mismatched data formats between systems.

• System Orchestration: Experience building robust middleware, webhooks, and retry logic to handle high-volume sync traffic and system failures.

• AI Stack Integration: Practical experience integrating LLM APIs, vector storage, and agentic protocols/frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex, MCP) via backend middleware.

• Architecture & Security: Proven ability to create technical architecture blueprints (e.g., Lucidchart) and secure AI workloads against prompt injection and model vulnerabilities. Rapid mastery of Prisma AIRS.

• Testing & Quality Assurance: Experience using testing frameworks (e.g., PyTest, unittest) and robust evaluation workflows for distributed systems.

• Communication: Excellent customer focus, collaboration and communication skills

• Education: BS/MS Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related technical field or equivalent or equivalent military experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Asynchronous Systems: Strong background in distributed task queues (e.g., Celery, Redis, RabbitMQ) and event-driven backend architectures.

• AI Security Expertise: Hands-on experience with automated AI red teaming, prompt defense tools, and securing Model Context Protocol (MCP) server interactions.

• Ecosystem Familiarity: Working knowledge of major enterprise platforms (e.g., ServiceNow, Databricks, Glean)

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.

$104,000.00 - $169,500.00/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  [email protected].

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.