Principal Software Automation / Test Engineer

Palo Alto Networks • Santa Clara, CA

19h

About The Position

We are seeking an AI-savvy Principal QA Test Engineer to transform how we test and validate Prisma Access Services. As a technical leader, you will design and implement autonomous QA workflows that leverage AI to achieve unprecedented test coverage, efficiency, and defect detection. You will take ownership of quality outcomes, mentor teams, and drive innovation in how we approach testing at scale.

Requirements

• M.S./B.S. degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent military experience required.
• 10+ years of experience in QA/Test Automation Engineering with demonstrated impact on product quality and team practices.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience with AI/ML technologies, including LLMs, prompt engineering, and AI-assisted development workflows.
• Proven track record of building autonomous testing systems or AI-powered quality engineering tools.
• Intermediate to Expert level experience with REST API driven automation using Python or Go.
• Deep expertise in cybersecurity, cloud networking, or distributed systems test, including expert knowledge of TCP/IP, DNS, and SSL/TLS.
• Experience with Identity Technologies such as Azure AD, Okta, or Ping Identity.
• Experience with cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) and cloud networking architectures (VPCs, subnets, security groups, NAT).
• Experience with Windows/Linux/MAC Networking and Security Features.
• Expertise in REST API testing, web UI automation (Selenium, Playwright, Puppeteer), and cloud-native application testing.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with designing or building automation frameworks from scratch for Endpoint products.
• Experience with Network or Application Load Balancers.
• Experience building RAG pipelines, vector databases, and knowledge graphs for test intelligence.
• Experience with browser security solutions such as enterprise browsers, remote browser isolation, or browser extensions.
• Knowledge of SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) architecture and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) principles.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement autonomous QA workflows using AI agents and LLM-based frameworks to achieve continuous, intelligent test execution across multiple services.
• Develop AI-augmented test infrastructure enabling scalable, context-aware testing that reflects real-world deployment scenarios.
• Build AI-powered test generation systems that automatically create comprehensive test suites from requirements, specifications, and production telemetry.
• Participate in system design to ensure quality, observability, and testability are built-in throughout the feature development lifecycle.
• Provide technical leadership in browser security, cloud orchestration, distributed systems, and AI-assisted quality engineering across multi-team quality initiatives.
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers on AI/ML testing techniques, prompt engineering, and modern quality practices; lead adoption of new testing methodologies and measure impact.
• Collaborate with Development, SRE, Product Management, and Technical Marketing to align quality strategy with business outcomes and establish quality standards.
• Enhance test strategies, automation, and build infrastructure with feedback and analysis from real-world customer deployments.
• Stay current with AI/ML advancements and translate them into practical testing innovations like agentic workflows, multimodal testing, and AI-powered observability.

What This Job Offers

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