Senior Principal Forward Deployed Engineer (Customer 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

As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) for AI Gateway, you are a hands-on developer and systems architect who embeds with customer engineering teams. You write production code, design low-latency topologies, and build custom plugins to ship secure enterprise AI workloads to production. You bridge the gap between customer production environments and core engineering—extending the platform edge while directly contributing code back to the core AI Gateway engine.

Key Responsibilities

• Write production-grade code (Python, Go, TypeScript) to integrate AI Gateway with microservices, API meshes, and multi-cloud architectures.

• Build custom middleware/plugins for identity-aware policies, prompt security, dynamic routing, and telemetry pipelines.

• Develop automated deployment modules (Terraform, Helm, Kubernetes) and SDK wrappers.

• Optimize high-throughput, low-latency traffic paths (streaming payloads, caching, load balancing).

• Lead Architectural Design Reviews (ADRs) with customer Principal Engineers and CISOs for zero-trust deployments.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years writing production code (Python, Go, TypeScript/C++), with deep experience in APIs (gRPC, REST, WebSockets) and API gateways (Envoy, Kong).

• Hands-on experience with LLM orchestration, prompt security, token optimization, model routing, and vector databases/RAG architectures.

• Proficiency in Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, AWS/GCP/Azure, OIDC/OAuth2, and zero-trust networking.

Preferred Qualifications

• A hands-on builder who loves pair-programming with customer devs and digging into raw code/traces to solve live outages.

• Experience thinking like an engineer first and a consultant second.

• Proven ability to own problems end-to-end.

• Ability to whiteboard enterprise architecture, debug an API integration, review code, and influence the product roadmap.

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 to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

$183,600.00 - $297,000.00/yr

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?: Yes