Sr. Distinguished Engineer - AI-First Transformation

Palo Alto Networks

6d•Hybrid

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 The Team Information Technology - Our Information Technology team at Palo Alto Networks is at the core of our business and connects our employees to the tools and resources they need to succeed in a hybrid work environment. You’ll be part of a team that is empowered with the resources of a large company, but the freedom and velocity of a startup. We’re looking for people who are passionate about Information Technology and know how to get things done. You will be part of a growing, passionate, and dynamic team with an opportunity to work on challenging and exciting projects – centered on what we believe is one of the most significant mission statements in the world. Job Summary We are seeking a visionary Distinguished Engineer to drive our AI-First Transformation, bridging the gap between AI technology and business impact. You will re-imagine how our enterprise operates by rewriting operational workflows to drive efficiency, personalization, and speed. Your goal is to build a scalable 'AI Factory' that moves the organization from ad-hoc pilots to industrialized business value by leading the end-to-end AI lifecycle and translating ideas into tangible business outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree with 15 years of related experience, or Master's degree with 12 years of experience, or PhD with 8 years of experience.
Deep experience leading cross-functional teams at the intersection of Business Strategy and Technical Execution.
Proven 'General Manager' mindset with a track record of owning the P&L or business outcome of a digital product.
Fluency in the modern AI stack, understanding the capabilities and limitations of LLMs, RAG architectures, and Agentic workflows.

Nice To Haves

Ability to translate complex concepts between CXOs (Business Outcomes), CIOs (Architecture/Security), and Data Scientists (Models/Weights).
Technical fluency to design workflows that handle ambiguity and require human-in-the-loop validation.
Demonstrated success in change management, driving technology adoption, managing automation concerns, and upskilling teams.

Responsibilities

Define the AI transformation roadmap, ruthlessly prioritizing initiatives like autonomous agents and predictive operations to ensure a clear path to ROI.
Oversee the data strategy, curating 'Golden Examples' from institutional history to train models on our best work and digitize our 'Enterprise Memory'.
Re-imagine and design 'Invisible AI' workflows that seamlessly assist human experts, rather than simply digitizing existing processes.
Establish rigorous 'Report Cards' for AI models to move from 'vibes-based' decisions to structured evaluation, measuring accuracy, latency, and business relevance before production.
Partner with Legal, InfoSec, and Engineering to implement strict governance and safety 'Circuit Breakers,' protecting company IP and preventing data leaks or unsafe AI actions.
Own the adoption curve and unit economics, ensuring workforce trust in AI tools and preventing model decay by maintaining a fresh knowledge base.