Staff IT Software Engineer

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 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 Description Your Career We are seeking a highly experienced Staff IT Software Engineer to serve as a technical expert and strategic execution driver for our core quality and automation initiatives. This is a critical, high-impact role where you will apply your decade-plus of experience to accelerate delivery velocity, design next-generation test architectures, and embed an AI-First methodology into our daily engineering practices. Your Impact Advanced Test Strategy: Define and drive the execution of the automation strategy, Implement sophisticated progression testing across key business processes to ensure continuous feature stability. Champion AI-First Execution: Champion the practical integration and standardization of generative AI and AI-powered co-pilot tools (e.g., Gemini, Cursor) across the team’s automation and development of workflows, synthetic data creation, and anomaly detection within our applications. Subject Matter Expert: Collaborating with cross-functional teams across geographies to ensure test efficiency and effectiveness to cover meaningful test coverage Contributing to automation development, CI/CD pipelines, and innovative quality solutions like test data management and heuristic analysis Qualifications Your Experience 10+ years of progressive, hands-on experience in Quality Engineering, Software Development in Test (SDET), or a highly related technical role. Expert knowledge in designing and maintaining robust, enterprise-scale test automation frameworks (e.g., using Pytest, Selenium, Playwright, REST Assured). Demonstrated experience in a Staff or equivalent senior technical role, showing the ability to influence technical direction across multiple projects or teams. Deep practical experience utilizing or integrating AI/ML concepts and generative AI tools (like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or Gemini) to significantly boost test development and data management productivity. Exceptional ability to design test strategies for complex, distributed systems, microservices, and end-to-end business processes. Proven history of technical mentorship and elevating the skills of peer and junior engineers. Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent military experience required. Additional Information The Team 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. Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. 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 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.