AI-First Core IT Software Engineering: Software, ML & Data (Staff – Principal)

Palo Alto Networks

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Our Mission 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. Who We Are 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 Team Statement This is a Unified Application for our AI-First IT Transformation portfolio. We recognize that top-tier AI talent often has skills that span multiple domains. By applying here, your profile is evaluated by our core IT strategy team for multiple high-impact leadership and technical roles powering the entire enterprise, ensuring we find the right home for your specific expertise.

Requirements

Experience: Staff level: 3-5+ years; Senior Staff: 6-8+; and Principal level: 8-12+ years of experience in Software Engineering, Data Science, or Machine Learning.
Technical Mastery: Expert-level server-side development (Python, Java, Go) OR deep expertise in statistical modeling, ML algorithms, and LLM fine-tuning.
Architecture: Direct experience with RAG architectures, LLM APIs, and Vector Databases (e.g., Pinecone, Milvus).
Scale: Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, CI/CD, and distributed systems for large-scale AI deployment.

Nice To Haves

Advanced AI: Experience with multi-turn dialogue management, Text-to-SQL systems, and causal inference.
Security: Understanding of adversarial defense and security principles as they apply to AI model integrity.
Education: PhD or Master’s in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or Machine Learning.

Responsibilities

AI Platform Development: Lead the hands-on development of core Enterprise IT Business software leveraging AI components and LLM infrastructure with both traditional and Generative AI model deployment.
Agentic Workflows: Build and industrialize agentic AI systems and multi-agent frameworks, ensuring secure and effective use of GenAI technologies at the platform level.
Data Strategy & Modeling: Design and implement robust foundational data pipelines, perform advanced statistical analysis, and develop new ML models to drive autonomous system behavior.
System Optimization: Design large-scale, distributed AI/ML systems optimized for low latency, high throughput, and developer-friendliness (Inference optimization).
Observability & Governance: Establish evaluation frameworks to measure AI quality (accuracy, hallucination rates) and overall system reliability across the Enterprise AI Factory.