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Senior Mechanical Design Engineer (Network Hardware)

PaloAlto Networks
Santa Clara, CA Full Time
POSTED ON 12/18/2025
AVAILABLE BEFORE 1/17/2026

Job Details

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!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Job Description

Your Career

Palo Alto Networks is seeking an experienced and highly motivated Mechanical Design Engineer with some network equipment design experience looking for a fast-paced innovative mechanical engineering environment. The ideal candidate will work with thermal, hardware, compliance, power, PC layout and manufacturing teams throughout the entire NPI development process. You must be able to generate overall product definition, create detailed tolerance analysis, understand manufacturing needs, be capable of estimating part cost, schedule commitments to lead mechanical and hardware engineers, and present conceptual & design reviews to lead engineers. The main objective is to collaborate effectively with engineering, manufacturing leads and other cross functional teams in developing high-quality, low-cost system design
solutions.

Additionally, you must also demonstrate the skills and the ability to work closely and collaborate with team peers and other cross-functional teams, interface effectively with design engineering counterparts to achieve NPI or sustaining goals. You should be able to build cooperative working relationships in both NPI and sustaining context and demonstrate attention to detail, have strong verbal / written communication and
computer skills.

Your Impact
  • Capable of doing hands-on work in mechanical lab/shop environments to prove out design concepts and rework existing parts
  • Conduct failure analysis and determine root causes
  • Implement design enhancements and cost reductions
  • Create & release engineering change orders (ECOs) to implement design solution(s)
  • Collaborate well with the entire hardware team during development
  • Generate initial mechanical system Bills of Materials (BOMs)
  • Prepare and present Design Reviews that include detailed tolerance analysis, overall assembly, estimated costing and schedule commitment.
  • Work with manufacturing partners early-on in implementing DFM in Proto 1 through production
  • Participate in other design views to better understand various design ideas.
  • Responsible for the review and approval of initial First Article Inspection (FAI)
  • Reports for part and assemblies prior to pre-production release and/or transfer of ownership to operations
  • Supporting mechanical sustaining effort across all PAN products
  • Actively participate in product definition and document
  • Perform product characterizations testing
  • Capable in supporting sustaining across all production released products

Qualifications

Your Experience
  • Excellent understanding in design sheet metal, plastic, machining and die cast part design
  • Excellent understanding of tolerances analysis and how it applies to fabrication and assembly documentation
  • Excellent understand of product thermal and custom heat sink design
  • Good understanding of critical to function dimensioning practices in preparing fabrication and assembly documentation
  • Minimum 10-15 plus years of experience as a mechanical engineer
  • Skilled with 3D CAD software such as SolidWorks or Pro/Engineer
  • Experience with manufacturing and design technologies in sheet metal, plastic injection molding, machining and die casting
  • Experience reviewing first article inspection reports of fabricated parts and assemblies
  • Detail oriented with excellent communication and documentation skills

Additional Information

The Team

Our engineering team is at the core of our products and connected directly to the mission of preventing cyberattacks. We are constantly innovating - challenging the way we, and the industry, think about cybersecurity. Our engineers don't shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before.

We define the industry instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of a challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital environment.

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 $180000 - $205000/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

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

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.
Employers have access to artificial intelligence language tools (“AI”) that help generate and enhance job descriptions and AI may have been used to create this description. The position description has been reviewed for accuracy and Dice believes it to correctly reflect the job opportunity.

Salary : $180,000 - $205,000

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