Sr Staff Engineer Software - job 1 of 4

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

At Palo Alto Networks, we're not just building products — we're redefining what's possible in cybersecurity. As a Senior Staff SDET Engineer, you'll play a critical role in our mission to secure the world’s digital transformation. Your work will directly impact the quality and reliability of the solutions that protect global enterprises every day. If you're passionate about driving quality at scale and want to be part of a team that's leading the charge in cloud security innovation, we want to hear from you.

Your Impact

• Own the testing activity of features or areas, encompassing test coverage, efficiency, planning, execution, automation test failure triaging, and continuous improvement such as customer bug RCA.
• Analyze complex defects and issues, guiding the isolation of root causes found during and after software release.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, Product Management, UX, Documentation, DevOps, Customer engineers, and other teams throughout the product development lifecycle from requirements to release.
• Take responsibility for feature quality, becoming the go-to expert for testing-related activities in your area/feature.
• Conduct root cause analysis on production issues and develop improvement plans.
• Drive test design and strategy for high-impact and priority features.
• Design and develop test plans and test strategies for complex new features.
• Manage the complexity of Cloud platforms and test data design.
• Estimate work effort and ensure tasks are on track.
• Address challenges or risks effectively with stakeholders.
• Design, implement, and continuously improve test automation efficiency to boost the testing team’s productivity.
• Apply a consistent test design methodology when developing testing automation.
• Design, develop, and maintain test automation tools and utilities for both Backend and UI.
• Define, develop, and maintain complex testbed environments.
• Build test automation frameworks, create robust scripts supporting various reporting needs, troubleshoot failures, integrate with bug-tracking systems, and work seamlessly with CI/CD for cloud-based products.
• Be a self-motivated, independent, and proactive engineer responsible for qualifying Palo Alto Networks products with public and private cloud solutions.
• Design and develop Backend, UI, and end-to-end automated tests for both regression and progression features in our products.

Your Experience 

• 8+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise-level software testing.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, majoring in Computer Science or Information Technology.
• Proficient in at least one programming language, with a preference for Python.
• Proven experience with automation frameworks like Pytest (preferred) and Selenium.
• Experienced in working with complex automation frameworks and executing detailed test plans.
• Significant domain knowledge of cloud environments such as AWS and Azure; familiarity with GCP is advantageous.
• Capable of analyzing complex issues, identifying root causes, and providing robust automation solutions.
• In-depth experience with CI/CD processes and tools, particularly Jenkins and Gitlab, for cloud-based SaaS products.
• Demonstrated experience in developing test frameworks and tools from scratch, with a strong focus on continuous improvement.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, capable of articulating complex concepts clearly and concisely.

The Team

Why Cortex Cloud?

• Market Leader – Be part of the fastest-growing cloud security platform, trusted by leading organizations around the globe — and help ensure its quality scales with its success.
• Innovative Culture – Collaborate with top minds in cybersecurity and automation, where your ideas for smarter, faster, and more secure testing will be valued and implemented.
• Massive Impact – Your work as an SDET will directly contribute to protecting the world’s most critical digital assets — by ensuring our solutions are secure, stable, and production-ready.
• Rapid Growth – Join a high-velocity team where career growth and impact go hand in hand. As we scale, you'll have opportunities to take ownership, lead initiatives, and grow your technical expertise.

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 $126,000 - $204,500/ 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.