Senior Software Engineer - AI Security

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

17d•$152,300 - $246,400•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.

Requirements

4-6+ years designing and securing complex software, with a proven ability to write and review production code cross-functionally.
Strong judgment in evaluating data flows, permissions, and trust boundaries to spot structural weaknesses and redesign them for safety.
Proven ability to turn complex security risks into concrete, implementable product features.
Focused on building reusable tools, secure libraries, and automated test patterns to solve problems permanently.
Practical knowledge of prompt injection testing, AI red teaming, and evaluating model safety.
Familiarity with enterprise SaaS requirements (e.g., audit logs, data residency, encryption, customer trust guarantees).
Background in developing internal tools, CI pipelines, MCP integrations, or coding-agent guardrails.
Active participation in the security community via open-source work, vulnerability write-ups, or conference talks.

Responsibilities

Design AI security reference architectures and build AI-driven security services for seamless use in product development.
Build reusable libraries and guardrails to make secure implementation the default standard, reducing systemic risk across all engineering teams.
Develop automated testing suites to identify and mitigate AI-specific vulnerabilities, such as prompt injection, indirect instruction following, and unsafe workspace mutations.
Translate complex threat models into clear engineering requirements, production security checks, and launch criteria.
Analyze production signals and incident reports to continuously harden the platform and optimize security architectures.
Govern the safe use of internal tooling (coding agents, automation hooks, MCP integrations) to maintain a healthy balance between developer productivity and security.