Principal AI Tool Engineer for Software Automation/Testing

Palo Alto Networks•Office - USA - CA - Headquarters, CA

8d•$147,000 - $237,500•Onsite

About The Position

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. Key Responsibilities Design and develop testing frameworks for AI/ML models and LLM applications Build automated pipelines for model validation, regression testing, and benchmarking Create evaluation datasets, synthetic data, and test scenarios for edge cases Implement metrics to assess accuracy, robustness, latency, and safety Develop tools for prompt testing, output validation, and hallucination detection Collaborate with engineers, and product teams to define test strategies Monitor model performance in production and build alerting systems Ensure compliance with ethical AI standards, fairness, and bias testing Debug model behavior and identify root causes of failures

Requirements

Analytical thinking and problem-solving
Attention to detail and quality-focused mindset
Strong collaboration and communication skills
Ability to design scalable and reusable testing systems
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, or related field
8+ years of experience in software engineering, QA automation, or ML engineering
Strong programming skills in Python (preferred) or similar languages
Experience with testing frameworks (e.g., PyTest, unittest)
Familiarity with machine learning concepts and model evaluation techniques
Experience working with APIs, distributed systems, and CI/CD pipelines

Nice To Haves

Experience with LLMs and prompt engineering
Familiarity with evaluation tools like LangChain, OpenAI Evals, or similar frameworks
Knowledge of AI safety, bias detection, and adversarial testing
Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, and Azure)
Understanding of observability tools and monitoring systems
Exposure to synthetic data generation and simulation environments

Responsibilities

Design and develop testing frameworks for AI/ML models and LLM applications
Build automated pipelines for model validation, regression testing, and benchmarking
Create evaluation datasets, synthetic data, and test scenarios for edge cases
Implement metrics to assess accuracy, robustness, latency, and safety
Develop tools for prompt testing, output validation, and hallucination detection
Collaborate with engineers, and product teams to define test strategies
Monitor model performance in production and build alerting systems
Ensure compliance with ethical AI standards, fairness, and bias testing
Debug model behavior and identify root causes of failures