Sr Principal Software Engineer (Cloud Platform and AI Engineering)

Qualifications

• Your Experience
• BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent military experience required
• 8+ years of experience working on large cloud infrastructure platforms
• Strong proficiency in Python and/or GoLang
• Hands-on experience building AI agents or agentic workflows (e.g., using Google ADK, Vertex AI Agent Builder, or custom agent frameworks)
• Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar agent-tool integration patterns
• Practical experience working with LLMs, prompt engineering, and integrating AI models into backend services
• Experience building semantic layers, KV caching, or similar techniques to optimize LLM performance and reduce inference cost
• Solid skills in multi-threaded and multi-process programming and experience in distributed systems
• Strong microservice development experience
• Rich GCP experience and its suite of managed services (Vertex AI, Pub/Sub, GKE, Cloud Run, Secret Manager)
• Solid knowledge and skills in Linux, Kubernetes, and Docker
• Solid knowledge of web servers/proxies such as NGINX, Envoy
• Comprehensive experience with SQL and NoSQL technologies such as MySQL, Redis, BigQuery
• Hands-on experience with messaging/queuing systems such as Pub/Sub or Kafka
• Solid understanding of system design, scalability, optimization, and performance metrics
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Teamwork, problem-solving, and a can-do attitude
• 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/com-missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. 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 trailblazers that dream big, 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 accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com.
• 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.