Principal Software Engineer – Backend (Machine Identity Security, SaaS Control Plane)

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 We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join our Machine Identity Security team, focused on backend systems that power the control plane of our platform. In this role, you will lead the design and evolution of scalable backend services, APIs, and integrations that enable secure machine identity and certificate lifecycle management at scale. You will work on high-throughput, low-latency distributed systems supporting large-scale request volumes and real-time system interactions. You will operate at a systems level, shaping how control plane capabilities are built, exposed, and consumed across the platform. This includes defining APIs, managing service interactions, and ensuring reliability under load across distributed environments. You will be responsible for shaping the technical direction of control plane services, influencing architectural decisions across teams, and driving consistency in how systems are designed, built, and scaled across the platform. This role requires strong technical depth, product awareness, and the ability to guide complex engineering decisions across multiple teams. Responsibilities Lead the design and development of backend services and APIs that power the Machine Identity Security control plane Own and drive backend architecture and system design for control plane services, with a focus on scalability, reliability, and extensibility Define and influence how control plane capabilities are exposed through APIs, SDKs, and integrations Build and guide the development of integrations between the control plane and external systems/tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, enterprise platforms) Design and operate high-throughput distributed systems supporting large-scale, multi-tenant SaaS control plane environments, with a focus on latency, reliability, and data consistency Optimize backend services for performance at scale, including request throughput, concurrency, and system efficiency under load Partner closely with product, platform, and security teams to define and evolve control plane capabilities and long-term system direction Drive consistency and best practices across teams building control plane services, influencing design patterns, service communication, and data handling at a platform level Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues across distributed control plane services, setting patterns and approaches for other engineers to follow Mentor engineers and contribute to raising the technical bar through design reviews and technical leadership Drive technical decisions and influence backend direction across teams working on the platform Drive improvements in development workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and engineering standards Contribute to evolving engineering practices that incorporate modern development tooling responsibly, with attention to security, correctness, and maintainability Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience 8+ years of professional experience in software development, with demonstrated ownership of complex backend or control plane systems Strong experience building backend services and APIs using Java (primary); Go experience is a plus Deep experience designing and scaling distributed systems and microservices architectures Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), ideally in SaaS environments Strong system design expertise, including API design, performance optimization, and scalability patterns Experience building or operating systems under real production load, including high request throughput, concurrency, and performance optimization at scale Experience building and supporting APIs, SDKs, and integrations used by internal and external customers Experience with data streaming, messaging systems, or real-time processing (e.g., Kafka) Experience with CI/CD, containerization (Docker), and orchestration (Kubernetes) Familiarity with identity, authentication, or security systems (SAML, OAuth, certificate management) is a plus Proven ability to lead large-scale system design efforts and influence technical direction across multiple teams or services Ability to influence technical direction, mentor engineers, and drive alignment across teams Strong problem-solving skills and ability to operate effectively in a collaborative, fast-paced environment Compensation Disclosure The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/com-missioned roles) is expected