Principal Software Engineer (Cortex Vulnerability Intelligence Platform)

Palo Alto Networks
San Jose, 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

The Cortex Vulnerability Intelligence Platform team is looking for a Principal Software Engineer (full stack) to join our team. This team is responsible for vulnerability intelligence collection, processing and presentation. The Vulnerability Intelligence Platform has an expansive knowledge of CVE and non-CVE vulnerability data, and supports interacting with that data by direct investigation as well as by detecting vulnerabilities in software. This role is located onsite at our HQ in Santa Clara, CA.

Your Impact

  • Design, build, and maintain features for the Vulnerability Intelligence Platform and the Cortex modules it supports
  • Take part in and lead architecture strategy sessions - design solutions that accommodate the requirements of the various groups across Cortex
  • Collaborate with teams to solve problems, reduce technical debt, and evolve development practices
  • Drive technical best practices and evangelize new technologies within the engineering org
  • Collaborate with other engineers and ensure that your team delivers high-quality output
  • Take ownership of projects, drive them to completion, and support them in production

Qualifications

Your Experience

  • 6+ years of experience as a professional software engineer writing software (at least 3 of which in a full stack capacity)
  • Strong proficiency in Go
  • Experienced and opinionated on software development and best practices across backend and frontend
  • Able to switch between research, design, prototype, and implementation
  • Working knowledge of at least one of the major cloud platforms (eg GCP, AWS, or Azure), preferably GCP
  • Experience with CI/CD process
  • Experience with frontend frameworks (Angular, React, etc.)
  • Strong problem solving skills
  • Technical team leadership

Nice To Haves

  • Experience working in vulnerability management domain
  • Experience handling raw data from the internet
  • Knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks and vulnerability methodologies
  • Demonstrates a basic understanding of how a variety of exploits work and shows skills in enumerating and selecting the correct exploit for a given system

Additional Information

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 $147,000/YR - $237,500/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here .

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.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship?: Yes

Posted 2026-01-07

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