Principal Software Engineer - Secure AI Agent

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.

We’re building foundational infrastructure to secure AI agents—including their identities, access patterns, and interactions with sensitive systems and data. This includes designing intelligent, dynamic mechanisms for ephemeral access control, secrets management, and agent and user identity tailored to the modern agent ecosystem. As a Principal Engineer, you’ll take ownership of these critical systems, designing and implementing how agents establish identity, receive dynamic access, securely interact with sensitive systems, and leave verifiable audit trails. You’ll shape the long-term architecture, anticipate technical risks, and evolve systems that span both machine- and human-facing workflows. This is a rare opportunity to combine hands-on engineering with technical leadership—writing critical code, mentoring engineers, sharing knowledge, and driving best practices—while building a platform from the ground up at the cutting edge of AI, identity, and security.

Own and guide the technical direction of core platform domains, including agent identity, authentication, authorization, and secrets management, shaping architectures that span multiple services and teams while balancing scalability, reliability, and security. Lead by example through high-impact implementation, mentoring engineers, and helping them navigate complex technical tradeoffs. Proactively identify critical technical problems or gaps, and drive solutions from concept through delivery. Establish and promote engineering best practices, ensuring high standards for code quality, security, and operational excellence. Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to engineers, architects, product managers, and stakeholders, influencing decisions, fostering alignment, and driving cross-team collaboration. Document key decisions, patterns, and practices to elevate team knowledge and ensure consistency across the platform. Advocate for continuous improvement and operational efficiency, helping the team work smarter while maintaining a secure, high-quality platform Qualifications You bring 8+ years of experience in backend and systems with a track record of owning large-scale or security-critical systems end-to-end. You’ve designed and operated distributed, cloud-based architectures that are secure, scalable, and reliable, and you’re comfortable working with AWS, GCP, or Azure. You have experience or a strong interest in identity, authentication, authorization, and secrets management, and you’re excited to apply these principles to AI and agent frameworks—this will give you an edge. You thrive in ambiguity, make high-impact technical decisions, and guide others through complex tradeoffs with confidence. You