Principal Automation/Test 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 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 through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

• AI-Driven Test Strategy & Architecture: Design and implement a visionary test automation strategy that leverages AI/ML for intelligent test case generation, predictive quality analytics, and self-healing automation frameworks.
• Hands-On Test Automation Development: Lead the development of robust, scalable, and maintainable test automation frameworks from the ground up using languages like Python or Java. You will be writing code and setting the standard for the entire team.
• AI Fluency in Practice: Utilize generative AI and other AI-powered tools for efficient test code generation, synthetic data creation, and anomaly detection within our applications and CI/CD pipelines.
• Technical Leadership and Mentorship: Act as the foremost technical authority in quality engineering. Mentor and guide other engineers on best practices in software testing, automation, and the application of AI in QE.
• Drive AI-First SDLC: Champion and integrate an "AI-First" mindset throughout the software development lifecycle, influencing how we build, test, and release software.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:
  • Partner closely with Software Development, DevOps, and Product Management teams to embed quality into the development process and ensure the delivery of high-quality, reliable products.
  • Good hold on DevOps & non-prod Environment management (Architecture, Refresh strategy and automation, connectivity, Release train and env mgmt for optimal release strategy etc.)
• Continuous Improvement: Research, evaluate, and implement cutting-edge tools and technologies in test automation and AI to continuously enhance testing efficiency and effectiveness.

• 15+ years of hands-on experience in Quality Engineering or Software Development in Test (SDET).
• Expert-level programming skills in Python, Java, or a similar object-oriented language.
• Proven, demonstrable experience in designing, building, and maintaining complex test automation frameworks from scratch (e.g., using Pytest, Selenium, Playwright, REST Assured).
• Strong practical knowledge and experience applying AI/ML concepts and tools to software quality challenges. This includes hands-on experience with generative AI for code/test generation.
• Experience with AI-powered copilot tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Amp) for script generation and development productivity.
• Deep expertise with CI/CD pipelines, version control systems (Git), and modern DevOps practices.
• Experience testing complex, distributed systems and microservices architectures.
• Excellent analytical, debugging, and problem-solving skills with an ability to think strategically about quality and technical challenges.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent military experience required. A Master's degree is a plus.