Job Summary
Customer Engineering (CE) is an elite technical response team sitting at the intersection of Product Engineering, Systems Reliability, and Technical Support. As a Principal Escalations Engineer, you serve as the expert escalation point for an AI-driven support ecosystem, diagnosing defects and driving resolutions alongside AI tools. You will operate as a code-aware escalation point for novel and systemic issues, defining autonomous AI troubleshooting workflows that empower our wider support organization. Ultimately, your work shapes features for supportability that define the future of our products and elevates our automation.
Key Responsibilities
Drive top-tier technical escalations through deep technical analysis and defect diagnosis for customers in crisis.
Collaborate with Engineering on hotfixes and represent engineering during critical executive communications.
Identify product serviceability fixes and embed serviceability into early product design phases with QA teams.
Define autonomous AI troubleshooting workflows, function-calling schemas, and guardrails for customer co-pilots.
Author structured playbooks, guides, and tool definitions to empower human support engineers and AI agents.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications
BS/MS technical degree (Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field) or equivalent practical/military experience.
6+ years of experience in technical support, systems engineering, or top-tier technical escalation roles at a cybersecurity or network security vendor.
Solid hands-on understanding of L1–L7 networking, routing, switching, IPSEC, PKI, and SSL technologies.
Strong debugging and infrastructure troubleshooting skills for network security equipment and cloud-based environments.
Proficient in packet capture (PCAP) analysis using Wireshark, tcpdump, or similar tools.
Ability to translate complex troubleshooting steps into structured markdown guides and deterministic tool definitions for AI execution.
Demonstrated fast learning ability, high curiosity, strong initiative, and deep empathy for customers during technical crises.
Preferred Qualifications
Hands-on proficiency across multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP), SASE, CASB, and SWG technologies.
Experience with advanced packet crafting and replay tools.
Practical exposure to AI concepts including skill insertion, RAG knowledge base curation, and function-calling schemas.
Familiarity with evaluation benchmarks and basic Python scripting for tool integrations.
CCNA, CCNP, or equivalent vendor networking certifications.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate or equivalent cloud certification (GCP / Azure).
#LI-MD2
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.
$156,400.00 - $253,000.00/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.
