Principal Software Engineer- Dataplane

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 by each of us every day— 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. 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 is looking for an accomplished engineer with networking data path software experience to fill a Principal Engineering position. You will be part of a world-class software engineering team that works on various ground-breaking technologies in the SASE domain. You will work with a multi-functional team of engineers to design and develop systems for solving interesting problems in the SASE  area.

Your Impact

• Be a technical lead who can take on core parts of the implementation with autonomy
• Participate in full product release cycles, from feature design to version release
• Work in a small and fast paced team to solve important customer problems and deliver most impactful results.
• Contribute in all phases of the product development cycle, from definition, design, through implementation and test
• Proactively identify product features for improvement and innovation
• Innovate new product features based on customer feedback

Your Experience 

• 10+ years of experience with a BS or 8+ years of experience MS degree, in developing  system software for data path components in a networking device.  
• Strong experience in working with data plane and control plane architectures on networking devices.  
• Experience working with packet forwarding mechanisms using DPDK.
• Extremely strong in system design and architecture of networking products involving switching, routing and security.
• Experience with Linux system programming (e.g. sockets, files, shared memory, multi-threaded programming/process synchronization).
• Good understanding and working knowledge of Layer 3/ Layer 4 network protocols such as TCP/IP.
• Hands-on experience with Linux networking stack is desired.
• Strong passion and experience in troubleshooting, debugging complex systems and possess excellent problem-solving techniques
• Experience with cloud networking technologies is desired.
• Proficiency in C and other languages like python and Go
• Experience with TCP/IP and knowledge of common standard IP protocols such as ARP, IP, ICMP, TCP, UDP, etc.

The Team

Our engineering team is at the core of providing world-class SASE solutions. We are constantly innovating – challenging the way we, and the industry, think about SASE. 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 $147,000 - $237,500/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.