Principal AI Software Engineer

Palo Alto Networks

Confirmed live yesterday High trust

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
Santa Clara, CA
Salary
$223,000–$306,500 / yr
Posted
141 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live yesterday

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $206k
This role $265k
$123k $326k
below market most similar roles pay here above market

This role pays more than 82% of similar roles. Most pay $174,600–$236,899 — the blue band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $265k versus about $206k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks is a global cybersecurity company offering network security, cloud security, and endpoint protection solutions.

Palo Alto Networks currently has 51 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $159,100–$257,400 across 47 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at Palo Alto Networks

At a glance

TL;DR · Principal AI Software Engineer

JOB TITLE: Principal AI Software Engineer The Principal AI Software Engineer joins the Information Technology team to lead the company's Generative AI transformation. This technical leader will architect next-generation business applications and intelligent, agentic workflows to revolutionize Go-To-Market processes. Key responsibilities include designing a Proxy-First AI Ecosystem for vendor independence, building unified API endpoints, and implementing observability pipelines to track model latency and costs. The role involves developing Multi-Agent Systems, Agent-to-Agent workflows, and automated evaluation frameworks like LLM as a Judge. Candidates must utilize Python, Llama 3, GPT-4, and Anthropic models while ensuring security through robust guardrails against prompt injection and PII exposure. The position solves complex business logic problems by automating customer support and entitlement platforms within a security-first enterprise environment.

What you'll do

  • Architect a Proxy-First AI Ecosystem to ensure vendor independence and seamless switching between different LLMs.
  • Build a unified API endpoint to abstract LLM provider complexities and provide centralized security control.
  • Implement comprehensive observability pipelines to track trace-level data, prompt inputs, outputs, and model latency.
  • Design sophisticated Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) workflows for complex business logic.
  • Automate Go-To-Market workflows, including customer support processes and entitlement platforms, using Generative AI.
  • Pioneer "LLM as a Judge" testing methodologies to automate quality assurance for system outputs.
  • Build robust AI safety guardrails to prevent PII exposure, offensive content, and prompt injection attacks.
  • Develop detection mechanisms using keyword filtering and behavioral analysis to protect model instructions.

What we're looking for

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science or a related field.
  • 12+ years of IT system architecture, design, and development experience, or 8+ years with a Master's degree, or 5+ years with a PhD.
  • Proven track record of technical leadership in Agile/Scrum environments delivering large-scale implementations.
  • Expert-level proficiency in Python.
  • Extensive, hands-on experience building applications using Large Language Models (LLMs) such as Llama 3, GPT-4, and Anthropic.
  • Deep experience with Multi-Agent systems, Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication, and orchestration frameworks.
  • Experience partnering with business stakeholders to design workflows for Go-To-Market, sales, or support operations (preferred).
  • Familiarity with Java or Node.js for enterprise integration (preferred).

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