Principal SQA Engineer - AI/Automation

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

We are looking for a highly motivated AI-savvy Principal Software Quality Assurance Engineer to join our Digital Web QA team. As a Principal SQA Engineer, you will be responsible for creating and implementing a strategy for quality coordination and transforming how we test and validate as well as suggesting solutions to identified quality problems. All this in a fast paced, agile-based process of development, test and release. In this role, you will design and implement autonomous QA workflows that leverage AI to achieve unprecedented test coverage, efficiency, and defect detection. You will take ownership of quality outcomes, mentor teams, and drive innovation in how we approach testing at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement autonomous scalable End-to-End (E2E) QA workflows using AI agents and LLM-based frameworks to achieve continuous, intelligent test execution across multiple services.

• Develop AI-augmented test infrastructure enabling scalable, context-aware testing that reflects real-world deployment scenarios —specifically integrating self-healing test suites, AI-driven test case generation, and Visual AI regression tools.

• Build AI-powered test generation systems that automatically create comprehensive test suites from requirements, specifications, and production telemetry.

• Participate in system design to ensure quality, observability, and testability are built-in throughout the feature development lifecycle.

• Provide technical leadership in browser security, cloud orchestration, distributed systems, and AI-assisted quality engineering across multi-team quality initiatives.

• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers on AI/ML testing techniques, prompt engineering, and modern quality practices; lead adoption of new testing methodologies and measure impact.

• Collaborate with Development, SRE, Product Management, and Technical Marketing to align quality strategy with business outcomes and establish quality standards.

• Enhance test strategies, automation, and build infrastructure with feedback and analysis from real-world customer deployments.

• Stay current with AI/ML advancements and translate them into practical testing innovations like agentic workflows, multimodal testing, and AI-powered observability.

• Execute system tests including functional and E2E on sanity, regression, pre-production, and post-production phases in a tight release schedule

• Track and report the outcome of test executions and all information needed to support ongoing measurements and reporting on risks, defects, tests, and coverage.

• Conduct deep-dive root cause analysis on complex, multi-system bugs and collaborate directly with developers to implement corrective actions.

• Establish the overarching AI strategy for new features and major website redesigns in a fast-paced, Agile/Scrum environment.

• Conduct system functional testing to ensure system quality, reliability, capacity, and scalability.

• Compare and analyze system behavior vs. expected results/KPIs based on business and technical requirements.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• M.S./B.S. degree in Engineering, or equivalent military experience required.

• 10+ years of experience in QA/Test Automation Engineering with demonstrated impact on product quality and team practices.

• 2+ years of hands-on experience with AI/ML technologies, including LLMs, prompt engineering, and AI-assisted development workflows.

• 2+ years of experience in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM/CQ) or similar content management application testing.

• Proven track record of building autonomous testing systems or AI-powered quality engineering tools.

• Intermediate to Expert level experience with REST API driven automation using Python.

• Expertise in REST API testing, web UI automation (Selenium, Playwright, Puppeteer), and cloud-native application testing.

• Should have strong analytical, problem-solving, and judgment skills, and a strong ability to understand the business process flow.

• Ability to learn quickly and effectively and to remain focused in a diverse team environment

• Exceptional analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving mindset.

• Able to multitask and work on multiple projects simultaneously.

• Proficient knowledge of Agile software QA methodologies, tools, and processes

• Resilience and focus when delivering against tight timelines in a dynamic corporate environment.

• Should have a good understanding of Testing Fundamentals

• Strong communication skills with a track record of mentoring junior or functional peers through technology shifts.

• Experience working in an Agile/Scrum development process

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with designing or building automation frameworks from scratch for Endpoint products.

• Experience building RAG pipelines, vector databases, and knowledge graphs for test intelligence.

• Experience in CI/CD Environments and hands-on in Jenkins / Build tools will be an added advantage.

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.