Staff Security Researcher (Advanced Threat Prevention)

Palo Alto Networks • Santa Clara, CA

9d • $117,000 - $182,500 • Onsite

About The Position

Your Career You will be part of the team that builds and delivers the threat detection capabilities powering Palo Alto Networks’ Advanced Threat Prevention (ATP). The ATP Detection team is responsible for decoding network protocols, identifying applications, and detecting threats across our enterprise customers’ networks. As a member of the team, you’ll work on a wide range of projects that give customers deep visibility into their network traffic and the ability to prevent exploits, advanced persistent threats (APTs), and other sophisticated attacks. This is a unique opportunity to strengthen your expertise in threat prevention while making a direct impact on securing organizations worldwide.

Requirements

• Team player with good communication skills and the ability to work with cross-functional groups.
• Basic understanding of exploit techniques, such as buffer overflows, use-after-free, format string, XSS, SQL injection, CSRF, MITM, and DoS.
• Familiarity with core network protocols such as HTTP, UDP, FTP, SMTP, DNS, and SMB.
• Exposure to network traffic analysis tools like tcpdump or Wireshark.
• Familiar with Windows/Linux development environment
• Programming experience with scripting languages (e.g., Bash, Python, Perl); familiarity with penetration testing tools (Metasploit, Burp Suite, Nmap) or debugging tools (WinDbg, OllyDbg, GDB) is a plus.
• BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field, or equivalent professional/military experience.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AI/ML is a plus, especially in security contexts.
• Experience with Capture the Flag (CTF) is a plus.
• Contributions to security blogs or talks at conferences (e.g., Black Hat, DEF CON) are highly valued but not required.

Responsibilities

• Research the root causes of publicly disclosed vulnerabilities and develop effective detection methods, including IPS signatures and ML-based detection.
• Analyze and respond to Zero-Day vulnerabilities, delivering IPS protections to customers within 24 hours.
• Reverse engineer software to uncover previously unknown vulnerabilities.
• Design and implement detection methodologies for emerging attack vectors.
• Build innovative projects on Linux and Windows systems to advance next-generation security technologies.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees