Principal Engineer Software (Backend)

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.

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 We are seeking a highly motivated Principal Backend Engineer to lead and grow development teams working on Prisma Cloud and Cortex Cloud, Palo Alto Networks’ leading platforms for cloud security and security operations. We are looking for candidates with a can-do attitude, who are passionate about complex problems and thrive on bringing value to thousands of customers.

End-to-end backend development of features and components across their entire life cycle (design, develop, test, deploy, maintain) Work closely with peers across different geo teams and disciplines to shape solutions and integrate with other parts of the product Contribute to team-wide efforts - code reviews, design reviews, technical and architectural decisions Production oriented approach with providing real time mitigation and solutions to production issues Qualifications Required Qualifications M.S/B.S degree in Computer Science or equivalent and 10+ years of software engineering experience, including development of a scalable server-side application Extensive hands-on programming skills in Go, Java and/or Python Strong computer science fundamentals (e.g. understanding of lock-free data structures, bloom filters, minimal perfect hashing, consistent hashing etc) Proven Experience with cloud platforms (e.g. GCP / AWS / Azure) Experience with Microservices architecture (Kubernetes, GKE, EKS, AKS, Docker, Serverless, etc) Experience with big–data architectures (using Kafka, Splunk, Flink, etc) Experience with distributed computing (understand implications of CAP theorem, master election, brain split problem) and/or distributed DB/KVP (BigQuery,, Elastic Search, Kafka and SingleStore) Hands-on experience with SQL/NoSQL based databases  Preferred Qualifications Experience working in an agile and dynamic environment High energy and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment with a can-do attitude Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and cloud infra Familiarity with Cyber Technologies, Information Security, and Software Security is plus 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   accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com . 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,