Principal/Sr. Principal Security Researcher – Advanced Cyber Research

About the role

Palo Alto Networks is looking for a visionary Principal or Senior Principal Security Researcher to lead the development of automated defense systems that protect customers from advanced cyber threats at scale. The role blends deep expertise in OS internals, reverse engineering, and detection engineering with cutting‑edge AI technologies such as large language models and agentic workflows.

Key responsibilities

• Create, engineer, and deploy automated solutions for prevention and detection of sophisticated threats, analyzing complex telemetry to protect platform customers at scale.
• Partner with data scientists to integrate LLMs, SLMs and deep‑learning techniques into advanced prevention and automated defense capabilities.
• Research, develop, and continuously improve the Agentix solution, designing AI agents that automate security operations and workflows.
• Lead new research initiatives, coordinating data scientists and engineers to deliver enterprise‑grade security capabilities.

Required profile

• 5+ years of hands‑on experience in cybersecurity research.
• Strong background in threat research, Windows and Linux OS/kernel internals, and building security logic from endpoint telemetry.
• Proven reverse‑engineering skills using tools such as IDA Pro or Ghidra across multiple platforms.
• Proficiency in Python for data analysis and rapid prototyping, plus ability to read native code (C, C++, Rust).
• Scientific, data‑driven approach with end‑to‑end ownership from idea to production deployment.
• Excellent communication and mentorship abilities to convey complex research and guide junior team members.

Required skills

• Python
• C, C++, Rust
• IDA Pro, Ghidra
• SQL
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• LLMs, SLMs, deep learning
• Reverse engineering
• Windows and Linux OS internals