Sr Staff Engineer Software (SD WAN, Controller) - NetSec

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.

The Team Engineering - Our engineering team is at the core of SDWAN products – connected directly to the mission of providing world class SASE solutions. We are constantly innovating – challenging the way we, and the industry, think about SD WAN. Our engineers don’t shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before. We define the industry, instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of a challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital environment.

We are seeking an experienced Staff Software Engineer to develop, build, and maintain our cutting-edge cloud-based security product infrastructure at massive scale. In this role, you will design and code world-class security and networking services on major Cloud Providers while expanding your skill set. We want passionate, driven engineers who bring innovative ideas to all facets of software development and take full ownership of their feature areas. Join our collaborative team to solve complex problems and help protect customers against constantly evolving online threats.

Manage the complete software development life cycle including requirement analysis, design, development, deployment, and support. Innovate new product features based on customer, partner, and technical support engineer feedback. Design, develop, and deploy scalable features that perform reliably for thousands of customers. Troubleshoot changes to ensure high-quality output of the product design. Explain advanced Cloud Computing and Cloud Security & Networking concepts to diverse audiences. Communicate goals and desired outcomes clearly to internal project teams.

Required Qualifications 5+ years of career-level software development experience. Extensive hands-on programming proficiency in Java and Python. Experience applying AI throughout the full Software Development Life Cycle (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude). Experience in designing, building, and operating highly available, performant microservices and large-scale distributed systems. Practical experience with SQL/NoSQL databases and messaging infrastructure (e.g., Apache Kafka, GCP Pub/Sub). Strong hands-on experience with cloud environments, specifically AWS or GCP. Production experience building and managing containerized applications on Kubernetes. Exceptional communication skills with a proven ability to partner effectively across diverse technical and non-technical teams.

Familiarity with virtualization technologies such as ESXi, KVM, and Hyper-V. Experience implementing robust