Senior Principal Engineer Test

About Us

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. 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!

We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes.

About the Role

Test Architecture & Strategy

• Define and own system-level and platform-level test architecture across multiple networking products.
• Establish long-term test strategies covering NPI, sustaining, and manufacturing.
• Identify systemic quality risks early and drive mitigation plans before release.

Hardware & System Expertise

• Deeply understand and review schematics, board layouts, and system architecture.
• Anticipate and debug complex issues involving:
  • Power sequencing, reset topology, clocks
  • High-speed interfaces (PCIe, Ethernet, SerDes)
  • Memory subsystems (DDR, HBM, flash)
• Drive root-cause analysis across ASIC, hardware, firmware, and OS boundaries.

Automation & Programming Leadership

• Architect and evolve scalable automation frameworks and regression infrastructure.
• Write and review production-quality code for test, diagnostics, and tooling.
• Set coding standards and best practices for test automation.
• Leverage data, analytics, and AI-assisted tools to improve failure detection and test efficiency.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with Hardware, ASIC, Platform, Software, and Manufacturing teams to influence design-for-test and reliability.
• Represent test engineering in architecture reviews, EC/ECO discussions, and readiness reviews.
• Mentor senior engineers and raise the overall technical bar of the test organization.

Manufacturing & Production Impact

• Guide manufacturing test strategy, yield improvement, and failure triage at CM sites.
• Prevent unnecessary hardware scrap through strong root-cause analysis and software mitigation.
• Drive alignment between lab validation and factory test coverage.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience.
• 12–15+ years of experience in test, validation, systems, or hardware/software integration roles.
• Deep expertise in hardware circuitry and system architecture.
• Strong programming skills: Python or JScript (expert level), C/C++ is nice to have.
• Proven experience building and maintaining large-scale automation frameworks.
• Extensive experience in Linux-based systems.
• Strong understanding of networking technologies and protocols.
• Demonstrated ability to debug highly complex, intermittent, and cross-domain issues.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to influence without authority.

Pay

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) is expected to be in the range of $157,000.00 - $254,000.00 per year. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus.

Benefits

A description of our employee benefits may be found here.