Principal Engineer (Cortex Cloud)

Palo Alto Networks • Santa Clara, CA

63d • $147,000 - $235,000

About The Position

As a Principal Backend Engineer at Palo Alto Networks, you will be at the forefront of cloud security innovation, designing, developing, and maintaining the core backend infrastructure for the Cortex Cloud Platform and its Cloud Security Posture features. This role involves leading high-impact projects from initial concept to full-scale deployment, ensuring seamless delivery by aligning key stakeholders across product management, UX design, and engineering teams. You will also mentor engineers, optimize data models and queries, and proactively identify and mitigate risks in design and execution.

Requirements

• 7+ years of progressive software engineering experience, focusing on developing cloud-native applications at scale.
• Expert-level programming skills in at least one of: Python, Go, or Java.
• Deep practical experience in distributed systems architecture and microservices.
• Proven ability to build and deliver high-volume services using technologies like ElasticSearch, Pub/Sub, REST APIs, and Serverless computing.
• Exceptional troubleshooting abilities and a 'can-do' attitude when faced with complex problems.
• Strong understanding of public cloud design considerations and limitations.

Nice To Haves

• Experience acting as a hands-on tech lead or architect.
• Ability to make data-driven trade-off judgments.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of large-scale, resilient distributed systems.
• Serve as the project lead, aligning key stakeholders to ensure timely delivery.
• Act as a technical consultant and collaborator across team boundaries.
• Design, build, and optimize data models and high-performance queries.
• Mentor and guide engineers across the department.

Benefits

• FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items.
• Mental and financial health resources.
• Personalized learning opportunities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees