Sr. Staff Software Development Engineer-AI Security

Zscaler • San Jose, CA

1d • $154,000 - $220,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a Sr. Staff Software Development Engineer-AI Security to join us as a founding member of our AI Security Team. This is a Hybrid role based in San Jose, CA or Bellevue, WA (3 days in office), reporting to the Director of Software Engineering within the Emerging Tech org. You will be responsible for designing and implementing core infrastructure components and distributed systems, serving as a foundational architect for our AI security solution. This high-impact role focuses on scaling security infrastructure to support hundreds of millions of users, collaborating with stakeholders across the development lifecycle to drive innovation and technical excellence.

Requirements

• 8+ years of software engineering experience
• Deep experience in systems programming using Rust, with a focus on asynchronous frameworks such as Tokio or async-std
• Proven ability to design and implement horizontally scalable, highly available, and observable distributed systems
• Strong command of Linux internals, including kernel-user space interaction, networking, sockets, and namespaces
• Skilled in performance instrumentation, containerized environments, Git workflows, and CI/CD pipelines

Nice To Haves

• Expert in systems languages such as C/C++ or Rust, with a focus on performance optimization
• Deep understanding of Linux networking stacks, Kubernetes networking, service meshes, and LLM model optimization
• Practical experience with gRPC, Protobufs, and L4-L7 networking protocols, including TCP/IP, TLS, QUIC, HTTP, and WebSockets (WSS)

Responsibilities

• Architect, develop, and optimize a low-latency, high-throughput AI Security plane utilizing Rust, specifically leveraging its async/await model for highly efficient I/O and service-oriented architecture
• Build resilient, distributed, and scalable systems, emphasizing concurrency, fault tolerance, and robust messaging protocols
• Implement and maintain gRPC services and APIs to ensure seamless integration of the AI Security plane with control and orchestration infrastructure
• Systematically enhance performance across the entire stack, including LLM models, by employing profiling tools for both kernel-space and user-space components
• Lead complex, multi-functional projects and initiatives, defining the technical roadmap and driving execution across teams

Benefits

• Various health plans
• Time off plans for vacation and sick time
• Parental leave options
• Retirement options
• Education reimbursement
• In-office perks

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed