Principal Software Engineer- Backend (Python/Golang)

Zscaler•San Jose, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

About Zscaler 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 Engineer to join our Emerging Tech Dept team. This is a Hybrid role based onsite in San Jose three days a week, reporting to the Architect of Software Development Engineering. As a key player in building the next-generation Zero Trust Networking Services, you will architect Zero Trust networking services and highly distributed system components. You will focus on algorithm efficiency and memory optimization to process packets at high speeds, ensuring low latency and system responsiveness during high loads. Collaborating closely with operations, you will drive the deployment, monitoring, and scaling of systems to identify hotspots and maintain performance as our customer base grows. What you’ll do (Role Expectations) Architect scalable database schemas and data models for a multi-tenant control plane, ensuring strict consistency across distributed relational and NoSQL stores Design and implement secure, high-performance APIs to orchestrate complex provisioning workflows and integrate seamlessly with existing management platforms Engineer high-throughput systems using distributed caching and messaging patterns to ensure low-latency signaling between control and data planes Build resilient, auto-scaling microservices for lifecycle management and zero-touch provisioning, ensuring seamless deployment within cloud-native environments Mentor engineers and collaborate cross-functionally to drive end-to-end product delivery, while leading advanced troubleshooting to ensure successful customer deployments Who You Are (Success Profile) You thrive in ambiguity. You're comfortable building the path as you walk it. You thrive in a dynamic environment, seeing ambiguity not as a hindrance, but as the raw material to build something meaningful. You act like an owner. Your passion for the mission fuels your bias for action. You operate with integrity because you genuinely care about the outcome. You adapt to what’s needed, navigating seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution. You are a problem-solver. You seek out challenges because you are energized by finding solutions, knowing that solving the hard problems delivers the biggest impact. You are customer-obsessed. You build deep empathy for the customer—both internal and external—and anchor your decisions in solving their real-world problems. You champion their needs from start to finish, knowing their success is our success. You operate with urgency. You understand that in a high-growth environment, speed and quality are not mutually exclusive. You have a relentless focus on execution and a bias for action, delivering high-impact results quickly to win for the customer and the team.

Requirements

15+ years of experience in Python or Golang coding in a highly distributed and enterprise-scale environment
Design and development skills for high-volume production applications
Hands-on experience working with Apache Kafka, Druid, Elasticsearch, Redis (or other distributed cache) and PostgreSQL in a REST model
Experience with data serialization techniques and data stores for persisting events
Experience building solutions based on Microservices architecture within cloud infrastructure services such as AWS, Azure or GCP

Nice To Haves

Experience working with graph databases such as Neo4J or AWS Neptune
Experience developing GraphQL APIs and utilizing Apache Spark streaming and batch frameworks
Experience developing microservices in a Kubernetes environment and building UI components using ReactJS

Responsibilities

Architect scalable database schemas and data models for a multi-tenant control plane, ensuring strict consistency across distributed relational and NoSQL stores
Design and implement secure, high-performance APIs to orchestrate complex provisioning workflows and integrate seamlessly with existing management platforms
Engineer high-throughput systems using distributed caching and messaging patterns to ensure low-latency signaling between control and data planes
Build resilient, auto-scaling microservices for lifecycle management and zero-touch provisioning, ensuring seamless deployment within cloud-native environments
Mentor engineers and collaborate cross-functionally to drive end-to-end product delivery, while leading advanced troubleshooting to ensure successful customer deployments