Sr Staff Security Researcher

Palo Alto Networks•San Jose, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

At Palo Alto Networks, the mission is to protect the digital way of life by solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. The company values Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion, and integrates AI into its operations. They believe in-person collaboration is key, with most teams working full-time from the office, offering flexibility when needed. The company is seeking a highly motivated and experienced security researcher to join its growing security team. This role is central to combating evolving digital threats, involving tracking malware and threat trends, designing and building innovative detection mechanisms, and leading the development of machine learning models to protect systems and customers. It is a hands-on position requiring a blend of skills in threat research, software engineering, and machine learning.

Requirements

MS/PhD degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
4+ years of experience in a research or engineering role, such as system security, threat research, malware/code analysis or vulnerability research.
Proven experience in the complete software development lifecycle, with proficiency in one or more programming languages (e.g., Python, Go, C++).
Demonstrated experience in leading machine learning projects, including a strong understanding of model development, data preprocessing, and deployment.

Nice To Haves

A proven track of top tier publications in cybersecurity related areas is a big plus.
Solid understanding of the threat landscape, including common attack vectors, malware techniques, and threat actor tactics is a plus.

Responsibilities

Proactively track and research emerging threat actors, malware families, and attack techniques.
Analyze threat data to identify trends and patterns, and translate this intelligence into actionable detection strategies.
Find and develop novel methods for detecting threats across our environment. This includes static and dynamic analysis, behavioral monitoring, and heuristic-based detection.
Participate in and lead the complete software development lifecycle for our security solutions. This includes gathering requirements, architecting, designing, developing, testing, deploying, and providing operational support for the tools and systems you build.
Lead end-to-end machine learning projects for threat detection. This encompasses defining the model architecture, sourcing and preparing data, building and managing training pipelines, deploying models into production, and monitoring their performance.
Disseminate research findings and contribute to the security community by publishing results in technical blogs, industry white papers, and academic papers.