Sr. Principal Software Engineer; Cortex Platform

Job Summary

As a Senior Principal Backend Engineer in our Cortex group, you will be a key technical leader responsible for developing, innovating, and scaling the backend of our industry‑leading products, including Cortex XSOAR, XDR, and XSIAM. You will focus on the Cortex Platform and contribute to shared infrastructures, tackling complex problems to deliver significant value to thousands of customers. This role requires a can‑do attitude and a passion for solving the most challenging cybersecurity threats.

Cortex – Cortex is a world‑leading cybersecurity platform that provides comprehensive security solutions to protect organizations from advanced threats. Our team is responsible for developing and maintaining the core components of the Cortex platform, including the data pipeline, analytics engine, and user interface.

• Serve as an acknowledged technical leader, providing consultation and proactively collaborating across engineering teams to ensure alignment.
• Drive the full lifecycle of projects from requirements gathering to final design and implementation, acting as a project lead or mentor.
• Lead the alignment of planned work across the product by partnering with product management, UX design, and engineering stakeholders.
• Utilize a big‑picture perspective to identify, analyze, and provide practical solutions for complex existing and impending technical problems.
• Design, build, and optimize highly scalable data models and queries using technologies such as MySQL and Big Query, focusing on the details to ensure performance.
• Develop robust business logic and API endpoints using Python and Flask, and build high‑performance backend services using Go.
• Proactively identify, articulate, and mitigate risks in projects to ensure smooth execution and high‑quality output.
• Mentor and empower other engineers across the department, fostering a culture of technical excellence and applied learning.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 14+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a focus on distributed, cloud‑native application development.
• Expert‑level programming skills in Python, Go, or Java, with proven experience building large‑scale distributed systems.
• Extensive experience with cloud development, including REST APIs, databases, serverless computing, and microservices architectures.
• Demonstrated experience as a hands‑on technical lead or architect on complex software projects.

• 8+ years of hands‑on experience with specific cloud technologies such as Elastic Search, Google Pub/Sub, or similar.
• Deep understanding of public cloud design considerations, including security, global network infrastructure, and load balancing.
• Proven ability to make data‑driven trade‑off judgments and excellent troubleshooting skills to isolate and resolve complex issues.
• Experience working in an agile environment with cross‑functional teams to deliver full‑stack products at scale.

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 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.

$ - $/yr

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 accomm

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