Director, Software Engineer (Prisma Access)

Director, Software Engineer (Prisma Access) Santa Clara, California, United States of America Product Engineering Ref ID: JR-023920 Apply Current Employees, apply here

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks®, we’re united by a shared mission—to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you’re in the right place.

Who We Are

In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us!

We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes. Job Summary

As a Director of Software Engineering for Prisma Access, you lead the design, architecture, and deployment of core network data path services within the Prisma Access platform—Palo Alto Networks' flagship Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) cloud-delivered security solution.

You are responsible for driving a high-performing engineering organization focused on building, scaling, and optimizing resilient, multi-cloud, and cloud-native network data path and enterprise network connectivity solutions running at massive global scale across AWS, GCP, and OCI.

Key Responsibilities & Impact

• Engineering Leadership & Team Growth: Lead, mentor, and grow large, distributed engineering teams responsible for core cloud networking, high performance data path infrastructure, enterprise network connectivity solutions and associated services. Build a culture of accountability, innovation, and execution.
• Cloud Architecture & Infrastructure Scale: Architect and scale multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP, OCI) using Kubernetes, Terraform, and service meshes (e.g., Istio) to maintain high availability and low-latency security enforcement.
• Platform Operations & SRE: Ensure strict adherence to SLAs, SLOs, and SRE best practices for uptime, disaster recovery, capacity planning, and incident response.
• Observability & Deployment Automation: Oversee CI/CD pipelines, and improve monitoring, logging, and alerting for cloud workloads.
• Cross-Functional Strategy: Partner with Product Management, Architecture, Security, and Customer Support to define roadmaps, manage technical tradeoffs, and align release predictability with enterprise business goals.

Qualifications Your Experience

• 15+ years of progressive software development experience in cybersecurity, cloud networking infrastructure, high performance networking (DPDK, IPv4/v6) and Network fabric related areas

• 3+ years of experience building and leading a team working on carrier/enterprise grade Network Security or Network Infrastructure products across geographies in fast moving, high growth environments.

• Strong knowledge in IPSec, networking routing protocols, and TCP/SSL/UDP Networking.

• Experience with SASE technologies such as Zero Trust Network Access, and SD-WAN.

• 1+ years of hands-on experience driving AI transformation in Engineering by leveraging Agentic engineering, AI-assisted development workflows building deep familiarity with Claude, Cursor, Agentic Harnesses and Autonomous AI driven workflows.

• Experience in dealing with L7 application protocols is a huge plus

• Demonstrated ability to learn quickly and to work in a fast paced, innovative environment.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.

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 (opens in new window) (opens in new window).

$252,500.00 - $346,500.00/yr 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 [email protected] (opens in new window) (opens in new window).

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

Apply Current Employees, apply here