Principal Researcher

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

This role is remote, but distance is no barrier to impact. Our hybrid teams collaborate across geographies to solve big problems, stay close to our customers, and grow together. You will be part of a culture that values trust, accountability, and shared success where your work truly matters.

Job Description

The TeamThis is one of the most impactful and innovative teams within Cortex Cloud.We're a small, senior group of researchers responsible for uncovering vulnerabilities, modeling attacker behavior, and leading product innovation across the posture management platform. Our work has led to multiple vulnerability disclosures in GCP and Azure, and we regularly publish blogs, speak at top conferences, and collaborate with cloud vendors to push the industry forward.But research is just the beginning. We turn findings into real-world protection- designing detections, building proof-of-concepts, and working closely with product and engineering to bring our ideas to life. The detections we build, the attack paths we model, and the features we invent are used by thousands of customers across Cortex Cloud's key modules: CIEM, DSPM, AISPM, and KSPM.Job SummaryAs a Senior Security Researcher on the Cortex Cloud research team, you'll lead deep, hands-on security research across cloud and AI environments- from uncovering vulnerabilities and novel attack paths to building the protections that stop them.Your impact doesn't end with detections. This team is also responsible for driving product innovation: identifying gaps in how cloud environments are secured, finding new ways to close those gaps, and partnering with engineering, product and marketing to take those ideas from a POC to implementation. Whether it's a new detection engine, risk signal, or protection method- your research directly shapes the product.You'll research the AI attack surface in depth, and push the boundaries of what cloud and AI security can achieve. If you're looking for a role where research leads to real-world defense- and product innovation is part of your day job- this is the team.Key ResponsibilitiesResearch and uncover vulnerabilities and abuse paths in cloud services, with a strong focus on AI, identity, and data pipelinesCollaborate with product and engineering to ship detections and logic based on your findingsResearch-driven impact - drive innovation from idea to execution: Identify emerging security gaps, build proof-of-concepts, and partner with engineering, product and marketing to translate research into actual product features and detection logic.Represent the team through public blogs, conferences and research collaborations with cloud vendorsPublish internal or external research and represent the team at industry events or blogs.Lead the discovery of novel attack vectors- e.g., cross-tenant access, NHI abuse, RAG poisoning, privilege escalation