Sr Staff Software Escalation Engineer - Identity Security Management Platform

Palo Alto Networks · Boston · $126,000–$204,500 (stated in the posting)

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!

This role is remote, but distance is no barrier to impact. Our hybrid teams collaborate across geographies to solve big problems, stay close to our customers, and grow together. You will be part of a culture that values trust, accountability, and shared success where your work truly matters.

Job Summary

Join the engineering team responsible for ensuring the reliability, availability, and operational excellence of the Idira Identity Security Management platform (formerly CyberArk), supporting Identity Security Administration (ISA), Secure Infrastructure Access (SIA), Privilege Cloud (pCloud), and Tenant Management (TM).

As a Senior Staff Escalation Engineer, you will investigate the platform's most complex production issues, partnering directly with global R&D teams to identify root causes, drive product improvements, and enhance platform reliability. You will own technical investigations from initial escalation through engineering resolution, collaborating closely with software engineers to diagnose software defects, improve product quality, and strengthen platform resiliency.

This is a hands-on software engineering role - not a traditional support position. Success requires the ability to think like a software engineer while approaching production issues with the curiosity of an investigator. As the engineering escalation point between Technical Support and global R&D, you will help resolve the platform's most technically challenging production issues while influencing product quality, improving operational processes, and helping Engineering build more reliable cloud services.

Responsibilities

Serve as the highest level of engineering escalation for complex production issues across Identity Security Administration (ISA), Secure Infrastructure Access (SIA), Privilege Cloud, and Tenant Management (TM).
Own production investigations from initial escalation through root cause identification and engineering resolution.
Reproduce complex production issues and analyze logs, metrics, traces, telemetry, APIs, source code, and system behavior to isolate root causes.
Partner directly with global R&D teams to diagnose software defects, validate findings, and drive timely product fixes.
Translate investigation findings into actionable engineering defects with clear reproduction steps, log analysis, and supporting evidence.
Differentiate among software defects, configuration issues, infrastructure problems, and environmental conditions to ensure accurate ownership.
Serve as a technical leader during major production incidents, driving cross-functional collaboration to restore platform stability and prevent recurrence.
Collaborate closely with Engineering, Product Management, Cloud Operations, and Technical Support to restore platform stability and prevent recurrence.
Develop troubleshooting tools, automation, diagnostics, and technical documentation to improve investigation efficiency and operational excellence.
Analyze recurring production issues to identify systemic trends and influence long-term product, architectural, and operational improvements.
Mentor engineers and share technical expertise across Engineering, R&D, and Technical Support organizations.
Participate in an on-call rotation supporting production services.
Opportunity to leverage AI-assisted engineering approaches to improve troubleshooting, diagnostics, automation, and operational efficiency.

Qualifications

This position requires authorization to work in the United States without current or future employer sponsorship due to customer and regulatory requirements associated with supporting regulated U.S. government cloud environments.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
5 + years of extensive experience supporting large-scale enterprise SaaS or cloud-native platforms in Escalation Engineering, Software Engineering, Production Engineering, Sustaining Engineering, or a similar role.
Demonstrated experience working directly with software engineering and R&D teams to investigate product defects, reproduce issues, isolate root causes, and drive engineering resolution.
Ability to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve highly complex production issues beyond the scope of Tier 1 and Tier 2 support organizations.
Strong debugging and root cause analysis skills across distributed systems, cloud services, enterprise applications, APIs, and infrastructure.
Ability to understand complex SaaS architectures and troubleshoot issues across multiple technology layers.
Experience reading, reviewing, or debugging source code and translating production findings into actionable engineering defects.
Excellent presentation, verbal, and written communication skills, particularly during high-pressure, critical incidents.
Ability to navigate conflicting priorities while driving successful engineering outcomes and maintaining a strong customer focus.
Willingness to participate in an on-call rotation supporting production services.
Ability to work remotely within the United States while maintaining regular availability during morning business hours in the U.S. Eastern Time Zone to support collaboration with global R&D teams.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience using AI assisted engineering tools or applying AI/ML

technologies to software development, troubleshooting, automation,

incident investigation, or operational workflows.

Idira Platform Experience (CyberArk)

Experience supporting the Idira Identity Security platform (formerly CyberArk), including one or more of the following products:
- Identity Security Administration (ISA)
- Secure Infrastructure Access (SIA)
- Privilege Cloud
- Tenant Management (TM)
Experience with Identity Security, Identity Governance, Privileged Access Management (PAM), Identity and Access Management (IAM), or enterprise cybersecurity solutions.
Experience troubleshooting distributed microservices, cloud-native applications, REST APIs, authentication flows, and modern SaaS architectures.

Cloud & Security

Hands-on experience with AWS; experience with AWS GovCloud is an advantage.
Experience working for a cybersecurity or enterprise security software company.

Tenant Management (TM)

Proficiency in scripting and automation using Python, Bash, or PowerShell to create diagnostic tools, automate troubleshooting, and improve operational efficiency.

Secure Infrastructure Access (SIA)

Strong understanding of Windows and Linux operating systems, including:
- User management
- Authentication and authorization
- Process management
- File system management
- System administration fundamentals
- Remote access and administration using RDP and SSH

Privilege Cloud (pCloud)

3+ years of experience with C#, including the ability to debug new features and legacy code, identify software defects, and support root cause analysis in partnership with R&D.

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.

$126,000.00 - $204,500.00/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? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.

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