Senior Staff Software Engineer (Cloud NW & AI Security)

Palo Alto Networks
Santa Clara, CA

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.

Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Job Description

Your Career

As a member of the Virtualization team at Palo Alto Networks, you will develop our next-generation virtualization and SDN offerings. Responsibilities will include designing and implementing new hypervisor deployments and integrations, integrations with SDN provisioning tools, and core networking improvements in pure software environments.

Your Impact

  • You will be expected to participate in all phases of the product development cycle, from definition, design, through implementation and test
  • Develop functional specifications, assess task requirements and scheduling, and participate in development, debug and support
  • Candidate should also have hands-on experience with virtualization technologies, various hypervisors, system software, networking, and have experience with Linux kernel software development

Qualifications

Your Experience

  • Expert C programming skills
  • Hands-on experience developing for VMware ESX, XenServer, KVM, and/or Hyper-V
  • Excellent communication and networking skills
  • Good understand of network security fields such as stateful firewall, packet processing, TCP stream inspection, network ACL, and HA preferred
  • Experience with deployment on cloud environments (AWS, Azure, etc.)
  • Experience developing device drivers and/or Linux kernel development preferred
  • Experience with networking hardware and familiarity with physical networking technologies
  • Strong scripting skills with bash and python
  • Knowledge of orchestration systems like OpenStack is a plus
  • Ability to work well with a group of senior engineers in a dynamic, fast-paced environment
  • Minimum 4 years of related programming experience required
  • BS/MS degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering or equivalent military experience required

Additional Information

The Team

Think about it, security for an information security company. Working at a high-tech cybersecurity company within the product Security team is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You’ll be joined with the brightest minds in technology, our global teams on the front line of defense against cyberattacks. We’re joined by one mission – but driven by the impact of that mission and what it means to protect our way of life in the digital age. Join a dynamic and fast-paced team that feels excitement at the prospect of a challenge and feels a thrill at resolving security gaps that inhibit our privacy.

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/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $126000/yr - $204500/yr. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here .

#LC1

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that 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.

Posted 2026-02-07

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