Principal Software Development Engineer (C Programming)

Zscaler•San Jose, CA

5h•Hybrid

About The Position

Zscaler is a pioneer and global leader in zero trust security. The world’s largest businesses, critical infrastructure organizations, and government agencies rely on Zscaler to secure users, branches, applications, data & devices, and to accelerate digital transformation initiatives. Distributed across more than 160 data centers globally, the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform combined with advanced AI combats billions of cyber threats and policy violations every day and unlocks productivity gains for modern enterprises by reducing costs and complexity. Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate—we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession, collaboration, ownership and accountability. We champion an “AI Forward, People First” philosophy to help us accelerate and innovate, empowering our people to embrace their potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges and want to make a positive difference on a global scale, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler to help shape the future of cybersecurity. Role We are looking for a Principal Software Development Engineer (C Programming) to join our Engineering team. This is a hybrid role based in San Jose, CA (3 days a week in office), reporting to the Senior Director, Application Engineering - Central Authority. You will work on the control plane for the Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) product, which has redefined how security services are delivered in the cloud. You bring an understanding of security protocols and services.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in C programming; Bachelor's or Master’s Degree in Engineering/Computer Science (or equivalent experience)
Expertise in networking protocols and services like DNS, HTTP, TCP/IP, SSL/TLS and strong knowledge of authentication protocols like LDAP, SAML, OAuth
Strong experience in FreeBSD or Linux systems internals
Strong fundamentals with high-performance computing, distributed systems, event-based programming, memory optimization, and fault tolerance
Software design, profiling, and verification skills along with proficiency in design/code reviews and writing automated unit and integration tests

Nice To Haves

Experience in Go or Rust
Experience in cloud computing with AWS, GCP, or other cloud providers, and containerization using Docker and Kubernetes
Knowledge of PostgreSQL

Responsibilities

Practice technical leadership in design, development, and optimization of control path features in Cloud Infrastructure
Define and execute the technical roadmap ensuring alignment with business goals
Develop and own components of a large-scale distributed system with a focus on scalability
Use AI-powered tools for advanced problem solving and engineering efficiency
Mentor other engineers