Principal SDET Automation Engineer (Cloud Management Platform)

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.
Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Job Description

Your Career

Our Cloud Management Platform group is in search of passionate Automation Engineers responsible to develop and design our scalable microservices used to activate all Palo Alto Networks cloud products.

We are seeking experienced Principal Software Engineers to develop and deliver next-generation technologies within our Shared Services team. We want passionate engineers who love to code, build great products and bring new ideas in all facets of software development. Collaboration and teamwork are at the foundation of our culture and we need engineers who can communicate and work well with others towards achieving a common goal.

Your Impact

• Test Planning & Strategy Development - Design comprehensive, well-structured software test plans and lead the implementation of a test automation strategy, covering the entire testing pyramid (unit, service, integration, and end-to-end testing) to verify feature functionality for customer use cases
• Automation Framework Development - Architect, build, and maintain scalable and maintainable automated test frameworks using industry-standard tools - Contribute to improving existing frameworks to support new functionalities and optimize quality and efficiency
• CI/CD Pipeline Integration - Collaborate with DevOps to integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitLab CI, ensuring thorough test coverage at every stage of development and enabling swift delivery of features
• Microservices & API Testing - Develop and execute automated tests for microservices (API and service layer testing), ensuring data validation and reliability across services - Implement contract testing to ensure compatibility between services
• UI & End-to-End Testing - Design and execute end-to-end automation scripts using frameworks like Selenium, Cypress, or Playwright, ensuring user flows work seamlessly across platforms
• Troubleshooting & Debugging - Demonstrate excellent troubleshooting abilities, isolate issues, and verify bug fixes - Debug issues found during testing and after release
• Test Tool & Infrastructure Development - Build tools and infrastructure to support efficient, high-quality testing - Research and introduce new tools to improve test coverage, speed, and reliability
• Quality Leadership & Mentorship - Act as a gatekeeper for quality, ensuring all code passes necessary tests before merging and deployment - Mentor junior engineers on test design, automation techniques, and best practices
• Collaboration & Coordination - Work closely with cross-functional teams, including product management, development, SRE and SDET teams, in a fast-paced environment with short release cycles - Estimate, prioritize, plan, and coordinate testing activities to meet deadlines

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• Test Automation & Frameworks - Strong knowledge of test automation methodologies, tools, and frameworks - Experience developing test automation for REST APIs using Python/Pytest
• Scripting & Programming - Proficiency in at least one programming language (e.g., Python, Java, JavaScript) and strong scripting skills
• Microservices & Cloud - Experience with cloud technologies (AWS,GCP) and containerized applications (Docker, Kubernetes)
• CI/CD & Version Control - Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab CI, Jenkins) and version control systems (Git)
• UI & API Automation - Hands-on experience with UI automation frameworks (Selenium, Cypress) and API testing tools (Postman, REST Assured)
• Contract & Integration Testing - Familiarity with contract testing (e.g., Pact) and tools like TestContainers for simulating environments and verifying interactions
• Performance Testing - Experience with performance testing tools (e.g., JMeter, Gatling)
• BS or MS in Computer Engineering or a related technical field or equivalent military experience 
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience in software development or software testing

Additional Information

The Team

Our engineering team is at the core of our products – connected directly to the mission of preventing cyberattacks. We are constantly innovating – challenging the way we, and the industry, think about cybersecurity. Our engineers don’t shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before.

We define the industry, instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of a challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital 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/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $147000 - $225500/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

Our Commitment
We’re problem solvers that 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 [email protected].

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.