Principal Software Engineer (Cortex Platform)

• We are seeking a Principal Backend Engineer to join our Cortex backend engineering group, a team dedicated to developing, innovating, and scaling the Cortex Platform. In this role, you will contribute to the core backend of Cortex products like XSOAR, XDR, and XSIAM, and shared infrastructures. We are looking for a passionate engineer with a can-do attitude who thrives on solving complex problems and delivering value to thousands of customers
• Lead the end-to-end backend development of features and components, from design and development to testing, deployment, and maintenance
• Collaborate effectively with peers across diverse teams and disciplines to shape solutions and ensure seamless integration with other product components
• Drive team-wide technical excellence by actively participating in code reviews, design reviews, and architectural decisions
• Maintain a production-first mindset, providing real-time mitigation and solutions to production issues to ensure platform stability and customer satisfaction
• Challenge the status quo by exploring and applying new technologies and methodologies to innovate and scale the Cortex Platform
• Simplify complex systems by designing and implementing elegant, scalable, and maintainable backend services
• Mentor junior engineers, empowering others by sharing knowledge and fostering a culture of technical growth and accountability

### Benefits

• Healthcare: We value your health and provide options so you can choose what best supports your lifestyle and personal health goals. Various nationwide plans — including Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente, Delta Dental, VSP, and more — are available to you and your family. Our providers offer the flexibility you want and the coverage you need
• Wellness: With a large on-site gym and daily, instructor-led exercise classes at HQ in Santa Clara, Palo Alto Networks actively supports employee fitness. Our juice bar, Gym & Juice, features fresh juice blends, a quick and nutritious option pre- or post-workout. And our ongoing wellness speaker series highlights the latest trends in health and wellness
• Development: Professional development is serious business at Palo Alto Networks, where the Talent Development team offers 25+ courses to help employees boost their careers and develop leadership capability
• Financial: Most roles are eligible for equity grants, and we now offer new hires a quarterly vesting schedule right away. We want you to be fairly compensated and rewarded as soon as you make an impact – on our team, that happens immediately! And because we consider every employee a stakeholder in our long-term success, we offer an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with a 24-month lookback. From life insurance to health savings accounts, we provide ways to help you protect and grow your wealth. Palo Alto Networks offers both traditional and Roth 401(k) options, along with a company match of 50% to a max annual amount of $1,000
• Time Off: In addition to paid corporate holidays, Flexible Time Off programs empower our employees to balance their work schedules with personal time off. We offer 12 weeks of full pay for medical leave and 6 weeks of full pay for parental leave. As a company with strong ties to the military and veterans, we also offer 26 weeks of full pay for military leave
• Perks: Our corporate discount program provides employees with significant discounts on merchandise, travel and entertainment. We offer many on-site perks at headquarters, including cafeterias, fuel service, dry cleaning service, EV charging stations, and a company store. We also provide complimentary drinks, fresh fruit, and snacks in break rooms across our campus to help everyone power through the day.

Life at Palo Alto Network- Deep understanding of and experience with Microservices architecture (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker, Serverless)
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including the development of scalable server-side applications
- Proven experience with major cloud platforms (e.g., GCP, AWS, Azure)
- Strong computer science fundamentals and experience with distributed computing concepts (e.g., CAP theorem, master election, distributed databases)
- Extensive hands-on programming skills in Go and/or Python
- Hands-on experience with both SQL and NoSQL databases (e.g., BigQuery, Elasticsearch)
- Experience with big-data architectures using technologies like Kafka, Splunk, or Flink
- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code practices
- Knowledge of cybersecurity, information security, or software security principles