Principal Engineer, Internet Scanning & Security Research - Cortex Xpanse, Collections

Collections Team Engineer

The Collections team is the foundational engine behind the Cortex Xpanse Attack Surface Management (ASM) platform. We architect, scale, and orchestrate global internet-scale discovery and scanning infrastructure. In this role, you will design distributed systems that continuously map the entire IPv4 and IPv6 internet, while building high-throughput data pipelines to create the foundation for Xpanse's Attack Surface Management. This role is unique: you will bridge the gap between high-end security research and production-grade engineering. We need someone who brings deep cybersecurity expertise: understanding vulnerabilities and protocols, and can channel that knowledge into building the scanning systems, detection logic, and data pipelines that power Xpanse at scale. You'll explore emerging scanning techniques, research new vulnerabilities, and prototype detection tools, then harden them into production systems that process petabytes of scan data weekly.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and evolve high-performance network scanners that probe the internet at scale
• Design and maintain the layer that defines how each protocol is scanned
• Develop large-scale data processing pipelines that enable security analysis
• Investigate new data sources and perform data analysis to estimate customer impact
• Take ownership of projects, drive them to completion, and support them in production
• Mentor and grow engineers, share best practices, and technical expertise with a multidisciplinary team

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years building production backend systems, with meaningful exposure to security research or internet measurement
• Strong in at least one of: Go, Rust, Python, Java
• Practical knowledge of network protocols- experience building software that operates at the protocol level across TCP, UDP, TLS, HTTP, DNS, and beyond
• Proficiency with large-scale data analysis - SQL fluency, comfort with petabyte-scale datasets, ability to write complex analytical queries
• Track record of owning complex technical projects from design through production
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native architectures (GCP, AWS, or Azure)

Preferred Qualifications

• Have expertise with any of the following: GCP, Kubernetes, Terraform, BigQuery, PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigTable, Apache Beam.
• Contributions to open-source scanning tools or published security research

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.

$147,000.00 - $237,500.00/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 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.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.