Principal Software Engineer in Test (Customer Profile Engineering)

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

Palo Alto Networks NGFW (Next Generation Firewall) group is looking for a seasoned and accomplished Customer Profile Test (CPT) engineer with experience in validating customer use cases and solutions.

You will be part of a world-class engineering team that works on various ground-breaking security (On-Prem and Cloud) technologies & use cases. 

We are looking for highly motivated engineers who have intellectual curiosity, love the challenge of solving complex problems with variable factors and creativity in obtaining solutions. Our organization thrives on collaborative synergy, requiring engineers who excel in high-level communication and cross-functional teamwork. We seek individuals adept at aligning diverse talents towards shared objectives, fostering an environment of innovation and collective achievement.

As a Principal Software Engineer in the CPT (Customer Profile Test Engineering) team, you will be responsible for testing the use cases for Palo Alto Networks’ next-generation firewall (On-Premise and Cloud NGFW)  & Cloud Delivered Security Solutions (CDSS).

You will play a pivotal role in shaping our future direction by participating in requirements and design discussions. Your responsibilities will extend beyond the development sphere, involving direct engagement with our top-tier customers, account managers, customer success and sales teams. This multifaceted role will require close collaboration with development and product management teams, as well as key stakeholders across the organization.

In this position, you’ll craft and execute comprehensive test plans based on customer use case requirements and design specifications. Your expertise will be crucial in designing and maintaining complex end-to-end topologies that simulate real-world deployment scenarios, ensuring robust validation of our designs. This role offers a unique opportunity to influence product development while also contributing to customer satisfaction and sales initiatives.

You will drive the efficiency and reliability of our products by validating them thoroughly to understand potential risks, bugs, or issues, providing an exemplary customer experience for our end users. You strive for the best in everything you do—meaning you won’t rest until the products you work on are of the highest quality. You love hunting for problems within the code, seeking issues to correct, and enjoy the challenge of a code-based scavenger hunt that includes testing, providing feedback, and identifying alternative suggestions for our product’s environment.

Your Impact

• Design, develop and validate customer focused use cases  on our next-generation security platform & cloud security services

• Ownership of end to end workflow for major components of the service in its first release

• Leadership opportunity to drive collaboration with internal/external cross-functional efforts to deliver best in quality software

• Open Engineering environment to suggest and improve the development process for an agile team

• Collaboratively work with DevOps and the Technical Support teams to troubleshoot customer issues and build better customer experiences

• Interview, mentor and coach new team members as part of the growing team

Your Experience 

• Detailed understanding of modern network design, implementation, and troubleshooting

• Involve with analyzing, testing, and modeling Palo Alto Networks platforms in complex deployment scenarios

• Experience testing network security products, preferably with firewalls and security services

• Experience with GNU tools and good to have experience with typical test tools from Spirent and Ixia

• Experience with Python and similar scripting language, and strong ability to develop, maintain, and monitor automated processes is must

• Experience testing L4-L7 Network layers

• L3 network testing experience with knowledge of most common switching and routing protocols

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are a must

• Experience with testing in a Virtualization environment, including cloud platforms AWS, Azure, GCP etc. is plus

• Past experience with technical presentations, customer interfacing, and requirements interpretation is plus

• BS/MS degree with minimum 8+ years of experience in the networking security industry, or equivalent experience or equivalent military experience required

The Team 

Our engineering team is at the core of our products – 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 $147000 - $225 500/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.