Senior Staff Security Researcher
Palo Alto Networks3 days ago
Base Salary
$163k - $263k/yr
Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain a comprehensive repository of vulnerability content for detection and mitigation.
- Lead tactical responses to zero-day and critical vulnerabilities across attack surfaces.
- Conduct vulnerability research and testing, improve automation, and support identification, validation, and mitigation of security risks.
- Analyze existing solutions, identify quality barriers, recommend changes, and implement improvements.
- Participate in architecture strategy sessions and design solutions for Cortex teams.
- Collaborate across engineering teams to solve problems, reduce technical debt, and promote technical best practices and new technologies.
- Mentor other researchers and ensure high-quality team output.
- Own projects through completion and support them in production.
Requirements
- 2–5 years of experience in vulnerability management, offensive security, or security research.
- Experience contributing to public vulnerability research, submitting CVEs, or creating proof-of-concept exploits.
- Strong understanding of TCP/IP and networking protocols such as HTTP, FTP, SSH, and SNMP.
- Familiarity with Nuclei, OpenVAS, Nmap, Metasploit, Burp Suite, and Wireshark.
- Knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks and vulnerability methodologies.
- Proficiency in Python and familiarity with, or willingness to learn, Java, Golang, C, C++, or Rust.
- Deep understanding of Windows, Linux, macOS, and Unix-based systems.
- Ability to move between research, design, prototyping, and implementation.
- Cybersecurity knowledge demonstrated through certifications such as OSCP, GPEN, or Pentest+, or willingness to obtain one.
- Preferred: familiarity with patch management, enterprise or cloud-deployed embedded systems, GCP managed services, network architectures, subnetting, routing, VLANs, BigQuery, Bigtable, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SOC operations, red/blue teams, or security analysis.
Benefits
- Most teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when needed.
- The role is eligible for immigration sponsorship.
- Benefits may include restricted stock units and a bonus in addition to base compensation.
- Reasonable accommodations are available for qualified individuals with disabilities or special needs.
Tech Stack
Categories
About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks builds cybersecurity products for enterprises and governments, including next-generation firewalls, cloud security (Prisma Cloud/Prisma Access), and SOC tools (Cortex). It sells subscriptions and appliances with cloud-delivered threat intelligence, securing networks, endpoints, and applications across data centers and public clouds. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker PANW.