Sr Principal / Architect Engineer Software (Identity Platform)

We are seeking a Senior Principal Software Architect to define and drive the long-term architectural vision for our Identity Platform. In this role, you will lead the design and evolution of our next-generation Identity services, ensuring they meet the highest standards of scalability, security, resiliency, and operational excellence. As one of the organization's senior technical leaders, you will shape architecture across multiple product areas, influence strategic technology decisions, and partner with Engineering, Product Management, Security, and Architecture leadership to build a world-class Identity platform. You will establish architectural standards, mentor engineering teams and architects, and drive modernization initiatives that accelerate innovation while reducing technical debt.

• Define and evolve the long-term architecture and technology strategy for the Identity Platform.
• Lead the design of large-scale, cloud-native SaaS systems that meet demanding scalability, security, availability, and performance requirements.
• Establish architectural principles, design standards, and engineering best practices across multiple teams and organizations.
• Partner with Product Management, Engineering, Security, and fellow architects to translate business and cybersecurity requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Drive modernization initiatives, simplify complex systems, and strategically reduce technical debt.
• Lead architecture reviews, identify technical risks, and guide teams toward successful implementation.
• Mentor architects and senior engineers, fostering technical excellence and growing future technical leaders.
• Represent the Identity organization in architecture forums and contribute to the broader engineering strategy across Palo Alto Networks.

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including several years in software architecture or principal engineering roles.
• Proven experience architecting and delivering large-scale cloud-native SaaS platforms.
• 2+ years of practical experience architecting and deploying AI/ML capabilities, with deep familiarity in modern GenAI patterns (LLMs, RAG, Vector Databases, Fine-Tuning, Agentic Workflows, and GenAIOps).
• Strong understanding of AI security, prompt injection defenses, privacy considerations, and cost-management models in cloud environments.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, microservices, asynchronous architectures, and enterprise software design patterns.
• Strong programming background in .NET, Java, Python, Go, or similar technologies.
• Extensive experience with AWS (preferred) or Azure cloud architectures.
• Demonstrated experience leading architecture for multiple enterprise-scale products from concept through production.
• Strong understanding of scalability, resiliency, observability, security, and non-functional requirements.
• Excellent communication, technical writing, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence executive and engineering leadership.

• Deep understanding of Identity and Access Management (IAM), including Directory Services, Authentication, Authorization, SSO, OAuth2/OIDC, SAML, and RBAC/ABAC.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, Infrastructure-as-Code, and modern CI/CD platforms.
• Experience designing multi-tenant SaaS platforms and operating services at global scale.
• Strong background in Agile software development and iterative architecture practices.
• Experience mentoring architects and leading cross-organizational technical initiatives.