Principal Engineer Software Developer (Flow & Forwarding)

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.
Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Your Career

We are looking for motivated, smart, hardworking and passionate individuals to join the Next-gen Firewall dataplane team as a Software Engineer. You will be part of a world-class software engineering team that works on various cutting-edge technologies for the firewall.

As a member of a data plane networking software group, you will be responsible for designing and developing the next-generation firewall core operating system and applications. You will take ownership for large software components, work with product management on real life customer requirements, apply your knowledge to functional design, utilize your programming skills for efficient and robust implementation, and interact with quality assurance and field support teams in the whole software development cycle. The culture at Palo Alto Networks is creative, dynamic and inspiring to tackle real work cyber-attacks.

Your Impact

• Responsible for the development of the critical dataplane and network/routing components for the State-of-the-art Next Generation Firewalls deployed at Enterprise, Data Center, Cloud, and Service Provider environments

• Design & Develop L2-L4 network security features 

• Develop network security high availability service infrastructure products

• Support critical customer escalations and provide root cause analysis in a timely manner;

• Work with multi-functional team members on user requirements, including but not limited to Product Management, QA, Support, etc.

• Effective decision maker, take ownership and independently drive, lead tasks and assignments

Your Experience 

• Strong in-depth C Programming experience

• Strong experience in large scale software development on Unix/Linux.

• Multi-core and Multi-threading programming experience is a MUST

• In-depth knowledge in networking, especially in L2, L3, L4 protocols such as IPv4, IPv6, TCP, UDP is a MUST

• Strong technical knowledge in computer architecture and systems engineering

• Experience in routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, Multicast  etc) is desired.

• Strong experience in developing & debugging packet processing, parsing, networking (L1-L7) protocols/architecture

• Experience in data plane forwarding and any network processor programming

• Can-do attitude and ability to take initiative and drive open issues to completion

• Strong communication skills to work effectively with multi-functional groups

• Desired Python, Shell script programming skills

• BS/MS degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent experience

The Team

Our engineering team is at the core of our products and connected directly to the mission of preventing cyberattacks. We are constantly innovating — challenging the way we, and the industry, think about cybersecurity. Our engineers don’t shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before.

We define the industry instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of a challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital environment.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $200,000 - $225,000/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that take risks and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at  [email protected].

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship?: Yes