Principal, UX Mixed Method Researcher (NetSec)

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

At Palo Alto Networks, our mission is to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. As part of our Network Security (NetSec) Platform team, you'll play a key role in shaping intuitive, scalable user experiences for complex enterprise environments. You’ll drive impact by uncovering deep user insights through both qualitative and quantitative research—and by helping teams across the company leverage those insights to make confident, user-centered decisions.

Your Impact

As a UX Mixed Method Researcher, you’ll bring expertise in both qualitative and quantitative methods to solve complex design challenges in large-scale enterprise environments. You’ll lead initiatives focused on restructuring information architecture and simplifying navigation across dense, technical platforms. Your work will help unify user experiences while enabling designers, product managers, and executives to act on research with confidence. You’ll also play a key role in scaling usability research across teams and improving research operations to support continuous discovery and feedback integration.

What You’ll Be Doing

• End-to-End Research: Lead mixed-methods research—from scoping and design to synthesis and presentation—on complex workflows, navigation patterns, and large-scale IA consolidation projects.

• Quant + Qual Integration: Combine behavioral data, usability metrics, and attitudinal insights to tell full-spectrum stories and inform product strategy across the platform.

• Strategic Communication: Deliver findings tailored to the needs of diverse audiences, from tactical recommendations for designers and PMs to executive-level insights that drive prioritization and vision.
   

• Scaling Usability: Create training, templates, and guidance to empower non-researchers—especially designers—to run lightweight usability tests effectively and without bias.
   

• Research Ops & Infrastructure: Partner on improving participant recruiting pipelines and implementing systems to connect patterns across studies, user feedback, and customer insights.
   

Cross-Functional Influence: Facilitate workshops and alignment sessions that help teams translate research into clear decisions, ensuring customer insights are embedded across the product lifecycle.

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• 6–8+ years of UX research experience, with hands-on expertise in both qualitative and quantitative methods.
   

• Proven success navigating complex enterprise environments and leading research that informs large-scale navigation and information architecture decisions.
   

• Strong ability to translate insights into clear, actionable guidance for a range of audiences—from designers and PMs to SVPs and cross-functional leaders.
   

• Experience designing research programs or toolkits that scale usability testing across non-researchers without sacrificing rigor or user empathy.
   

• Familiarity with research operations, including participant recruitment workflows and repository strategies that enable pattern recognition across feedback channels.
   

• A collaborative, thoughtful approach—comfortable operating autonomously while also mentoring and enabling others

Additional Information

The Team

At Palo Alto Networks, you’ll have the opportunity to tackle some of the most complex and high-stakes problems in tech today. As part of our product design team, you’ll be at the forefront of shaping how the world understands and navigates cybersecurity. We’re not just solving UX challenges—we’re building trust, protecting data, and securing critical infrastructure around the globe. If you're passionate about human-centered research, and energized by working in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment, this is your chance to make an impact at scale.

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 $157000 - $210000/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  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.