Sr Principal AI Researcher/Machine Learning Engineer (Cortex) Full-time

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!

Job Description

Your Career

We’re seeking a talented and experienced Sr Principal AI Researcher to join the Cortex Foundational Artificial Intelligence Research Team. Our team mission is to make leading-edge AI systems perform better at cybersecurity. We are building and improving foundational capabilities in cybersecurity systems using Large Language Models, Reasoning Models, Generative AI, Knowledge Graphs, Agentic AI, Model Fine-tuning/Distilling, and Retrieval Augmented Generation to be leveraged for future cybersecurity products.

If you have a passion for Artificial Intelligence Research applied to real world problems, join us to expand our team’s ability to produce new technology and advancements in AI. You will work with a highly experienced, multidisciplinary, and diverse group of AI, Machine Learning Engineering, and Cybersecurity experts both in our team and across the company. The ideal candidate enjoys collaboration, open ended problem solving, and rolling up your sleeves to find a pragmatic solution that pushes the team and our mission forward – we celebrate learning results from iterative data-driven experiments. This role does not require prior Cybersecurity expertise, but you will definitely learn about Cybersecurity technology on the job through working in the domain with teammates!

Your Impact

• Advance the state of the art in Cybersecurity through applied research in Large Language Models, Transformer-based Encoders, Natural Language and Structured Data Processing, Generative AI, Agentic AI, and Deep Learning
• Design and implement research experiments to demonstrate increased accuracy, efficiency, and helpfulness of novel AI systems and techniques
• Train and fine-tune large-scale language models using GPU-accelerated infrastructure
• Develop and implement evaluation metrics for assessing model quality, efficiency, and robustness
• Stay at the forefront of AI advancements and integrate state-of-the-art techniques into our models
• Collaborate with engineers to translate research into production-ready AI systems
• Communicate with AI experts throughout the organization to share research findings and technical progress
• Publish findings in top-tier AI/ML conferences and journals, and participate in relevant conferences and workshops to share knowledge and stay current with industry trends

Qualifications

Your Experience

• Published research in AI/ML, with an advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, or a related field, or equivalent published research experience
• 7+ years of relevant experience in AI
• Proven expertise in training, fine-tuning, and evaluating LLMs and with GPU-accelerated model training
• Proficiency in deep learning frameworks, distributed training techniques, and large-scale datasets
• Excellent research programming skills in Python and familiarity with CUDA, TensorRT, or other GPU optimization tools
• Have a strong working knowledge of machine learning algorithms such as LLMs, CNNs, LSTMs, XGBoost/CatBoost, Byte Pair Encoding schemes, etc.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Thrives when working on open-ended problems without known solutions

The Ideal Candidate Would Have One of More of the Following:

• Experience with transformer models in domains beyond text (structured data, tabular data, multi-modal vision-language, audio-text, etc.)
• Knowledge of model distillation, quantization, or pruning techniques
• Experience with distributed cloud systems like GCP or AWS and containerization tools like Docker a plus
• Previous experience applying AI/ML techniques to cybersecurity problems
• Knowledge of data privacy and security considerations in AI/ML
• A solid network of AI Researchers you can reach out to for ideas and external collaboration

Additional Information

The Team

You will work with a highly experienced, multidisciplinary, and diverse group of AI and Machine Learning experts, bringing your unique value as the cybersecurity domain expert. The ideal candidate enjoys collaboration, open ended problem solving, and rolling up your sleeves to find a pragmatic solution that pushes the team and our mission forward – we celebrate learning results quickly from iterative data-driven experiments. This role does not require prior AI expertise, but you will definitely learn about AI technology on the job, so please apply if you have expertise in cybersecurity research and would like to expand your scope to helping build AI systems that can learn from your experience!

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 $179000/yr – $290500/yr. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

#LC1

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.