Principal Security Researcher (Xpanse)

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

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 The Team Cortex Platform - Cortex is the industry's only open and integrated, AI-based, continuous security platform. Cortex is a significant evolution of the Application Framework designed to simplify security operations and considerably improve outcomes. Deployed on a global, scalable public cloud platform, Cortex allows security operations teams to speed the analysis of massive data sets. Join the elite Vulnerability Assessment Research team within Cortex Exposure Management and be at the forefront of cybersecurity! You'll be instrumental in groundbreaking research into vulnerabilities and exposures, engineering cutting-edge exploits and robust vulnerability tests, and building and maintaining the essential, high-impact tooling that powers our team. This is your chance to directly shape the future of exposure management. This capability serves as the cyber knowledge backbone of the exposure management product, and is crucial for customers to prioritize and fix critical vulnerabilities using the XSIAM platform.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in vulnerability management, offensive security or security research.
Experience contributing to public vulnerability research, submitting CVEs or creating proof-of-concept exploits.
Strong understanding of TCP/IP and networking protocols (eg. HTTP, FTP, SSH, SNMP).
Familiarity with common open source security software such as Nuclei, OpenVAS, and Nmap
Knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks and vulnerability methodologies.
Familiarity with current penetration and security assessment tools such as Metasploit, Nmap, Burp Suite, Wireshark, etc.
Proficient in Python.
Familiar with, or eager to learn Java, Golang, C/C++ or RUST.
Deep understanding of Windows, Linux, macOS and Unix-based systems.
Able to switch between research, design, prototype, and implementation.
Cybersecurity knowledge demonstrated with base level certifications (eg. OSCP, GPEN, or Pentest+) or willingness to obtain.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with patch management processes and tools (eg.WSUS or SCCM) knowing how vulnerabilities are remediated.
Familiarity with enterprise/cloud deployed embedded systems.
Experience using cloud managed services (ideally in GCP)
Knowledge of network architectures; understands subnetting and routing and how VLANs work and affect network scanning
Are familiar with distributed data stores, such as BigQuery and BigTable, as well as relational databases such as PostgreSQL and MySQL.
Experience working in security operations centers (SOC), red/blue teams or as a security analyst.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain a comprehensive, industry-leading repository of vulnerability content to enhance detection and mitigation strategies.
Shape and drive the tactical response to zero-day and critical vulnerabilities across all attack surfaces, ensuring rapid containment and mitigation.
Conduct research and testing, enhance automation processes, and ensure a smooth workflow for identifying, validating and mitigating security risks.
Analyze existing solutions, identify barriers to quality, recommend changes, then implement.
Take part in architecture strategy sessions; design solutions that accommodate the requirements of the various groups across Cortex.
Collaborate with teams to solve problems, reduce technical debt, and evolve development practices.
Drive technical best practices and evangelize new technologies within the engineering organization.
Mentor other researchers and ensure that your team delivers high-quality output.
Take ownership of projects, drive them to completion, and support them in production.