Senior Staff Software Engineer (Performance Engineering)

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

In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us!

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 Summary

Job Summary

As a Performance Engineer for our Identity Security Product, you will design and execute a comprehensive performance engineering strategy. This role requires a hands-on engineer who not only identifies performance degradation but actively investigates, debugs, and implements code-level and database-level fixes. You will work to ensure our SaaS-based IAM systems are ultra-fast and scalable, while championing AI to transform performance data into actionable optimization strategies.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify, investigate, debug, and fix performance bottlenecks, memory leaks, CPU spikes, and thread contentions.
• Optimize SaaS application performance using deep knowledge of the .NET ecosystem.
• Analyze complex queries, optimize execution plans, and tune databases to eliminate deadlocks and contention.
• Apply a strong understanding of AI, LLMs, and prompt engineering to build diagnostic and automation frameworks.
• Dissect complex distributed system issues and formulate clear, actionable execution items for the development team.
• Utilize AI tools to analyze trace context, error logs, and system states for predictive recommendations and code remedies.
• Apply system design principles and patterns to build scalable performance frameworks and recommend architectural optimizations.
• Model and simulate realistic, high-concurrency identity workloads (OAuth2/OIDC, SAML, MFA).
• Implement 'Performance-as-Code' test suites using K6 or Gatling and integrate them into CI/CD pipelines.
• Collaborate with SRE to integrate chaos engineering to validate system resiliency.
• Utilize Generative AI to create synthetic test data and user behavior models from production logs.
• Harness AI-powered APM engines for autonomous bottleneck detection to reduce Root Cause Analysis (RCA) cycle time.
• Set up and maintain full-stack telemetry dashboards using tools like DataDog, Grafana, or OpenTelemetry.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 5 years of experience, or Master's degree with 3 years of experience, or a PhD in a related field.
• 3+ years of dedicated experience in System Performance Optimisation and development.
• The candidate should have experience in at least one of the following programming languages: C#/.NET OR Java OR Python .The candidate should be willing to work with the C#/.NET technology stack.
• Robust SQL query fine-tuning skills.
• Strong debugging, problem-solving skills, and deep familiarity with system design principles and software design patterns.
• Experience working within high-performing, cross-functional Agile squads.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in high-throughput SaaS architectures and Identity Security platforms (IAM, Authentication, Authorization).
• Strong understanding of how to implement and leverage AI/LLM utilities to automate workflows.
• Expert command of performance testing tools like K6, Gatling, or JMeter.
• Experience with chaos engineering (e.g., LitmusChaos, Chaos Mesh).
• Experience with observability stacks like DataDog, Grafana, or OpenTelemetry.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab CI).

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.