Staff Software Development Engineer (Solution Test)

Zscaler • San Jose, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a Staff Software Development Engineer (Solution Test) to join our ZIA Solution Test Team in a hybrid capacity (San Jose - 3 days/week), reporting to the Director, Software Development Engineering in the ZIA Core Engineering department. In this role, you will be a key driver of transformation, beginning with the architectural foundation of our integration environments and evolving into a strategic leader for customer-centric validation. Your journey will start by designing and deploying complex integration environments and the automated pipelines that power them. These environments will serve as a critical internal platform used by the entire engineering organization, making you a key enabler of developer productivity. As you build deep, cross-product expertise through this foundation, you will transition into recreating intricate, real-world customer topologies and leading the strategy for automated customer solution testing. This role requires a blend of "architect-level" networking knowledge, "developer-level" automation skills, and a "QA" mindset for troubleshooting.

Requirements

• 6+ years of engineering experience in networking and security products with a strong focus on automation, solutions engineering, or systems integration
• Bachelor’s or Graduate degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent professional experience
• Strong hands-on experience designing and developing frameworks in Python and GoLang, along with orchestration using Ansible
• Proven track record of building and managing CI/CD pipelines within Jenkins and GitLab for complex, multi-component systems
• Expert knowledge of TCP/IP, SSL/TLS, Switching and Routing, and components like proxies or VPNs plus experience testing network security products and authentication systems
• Strong experience with Linux platform systems, including kernel-level troubleshooting and advanced log analysis using Wireshark and tcpdump

Nice To Haves

• Extensive hands-on experience with Proxmox, ESXi, or KVM to recreate complex, multi-vendor customer topologies, paired with familiarity with the FreeBSD platform or Windows networking internals
• Comfort using AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., Windsurf, Claude) and experience with microservices architecture and REST APIs
• Experience defining health metrics and building dashboards in Grafana or Prometheus for large-scale engineering platforms

Responsibilities

• Design and create multiple complex integration environments that incorporate a variety of Zscaler products and components; you will treat the entire engineering team as your internal customers, ensuring these environments are robust, scalable, and highly available
• Develop and maintain the CI/CD pipelines (using Jenkins/GitLab) required for the automated deployment, management, and monitoring of these environments, enabling other teams to spin up testbeds on demand
• Leverage expert-level knowledge of Zscaler’s internal architecture and cross-product interactions to recreate real-world customer topologies and develop high-impact automation suites for end-to-end customer solution testing
• Perform root-cause analysis on complex integration failures using Wireshark, tcpdump, and Linux system internals to resolve protocol-level and architectural bottlenecks
• Create and maintain comprehensive architectural diagrams, integration playbooks, Test Plans, and best-practice guides to empower the engineering team and facilitate seamless knowledge transfer across the organization

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