What are the responsibilities and job description for the Principal Software Engineer position at Zscaler?
About Zscaler
Zscaler accelerates digital transformation so our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. Our cloud native Zero Trust Exchange platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location.
Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate—we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession, collaboration, ownership and accountability.
We value high-impact, high-accountability with a sense of urgency where you’re enabled to do your best work and embrace your potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges and want to make a positive difference on a global scale, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler and help shape the future of cybersecurity.
Our Engineering team built the world’s largest cloud security platform from the ground up, and we keep building. With more than 100 patents and big plans for enhancing services and increasing our global footprint, the team has made us and our multitenant architecture today's cloud security leader, with more than 15 million users in 185 countries. Bring your vision and passion to our team of cloud architects, software engineers, security experts, and more who are enabling organizations worldwide to harness speed and agility with a cloud-first strategy.
Responsibilities
We're looking for an experienced Principal Software Development Engineer to join our ZIA team.You will drive technical strategy, set engineering standards, mentor other engineers, and collaborate with Operations and Support to ensure a healthy cloud and exceptional customer outcomes. You’ll demonstrate ownership, accountability, and a bias for precision in execution. This is a hybrid role, going into the San Jose, CA office 3 days a week. Reporting to the Sr Architect, Senior Development you'll be responsible for:
The base salary range listed for this full-time position excludes commission/ bonus/ equity (if applicable) benefits.
Base Pay Range
$182,000 - $260,000 USD
At Zscaler, we are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and the customers we work with. We foster an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives, emphasizing collaboration and belonging. Join us in our mission to make doing business seamless and secure.
Benefits
Our Benefits program is one of the most important ways we support our employees. Zscaler proudly offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families throughout their life stages, including:
By applying for this role, you adhere to applicable laws, regulations, and Zscaler policies, including those related to security and privacy standards and guidelines.
Zscaler is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. We strive to create a workplace where employees are treated with respect and have the chance to succeed. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy or related medical conditions), age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. See more information by clicking on the Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal link.
Pay Transparency
Zscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules.
Zscaler is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations or adjustments) in our recruiting processes for candidates who are differently abled, have long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support.
Zscaler accelerates digital transformation so our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. Our cloud native Zero Trust Exchange platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location.
Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate—we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession, collaboration, ownership and accountability.
We value high-impact, high-accountability with a sense of urgency where you’re enabled to do your best work and embrace your potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges and want to make a positive difference on a global scale, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler and help shape the future of cybersecurity.
Our Engineering team built the world’s largest cloud security platform from the ground up, and we keep building. With more than 100 patents and big plans for enhancing services and increasing our global footprint, the team has made us and our multitenant architecture today's cloud security leader, with more than 15 million users in 185 countries. Bring your vision and passion to our team of cloud architects, software engineers, security experts, and more who are enabling organizations worldwide to harness speed and agility with a cloud-first strategy.
Responsibilities
We're looking for an experienced Principal Software Development Engineer to join our ZIA team.You will drive technical strategy, set engineering standards, mentor other engineers, and collaborate with Operations and Support to ensure a healthy cloud and exceptional customer outcomes. You’ll demonstrate ownership, accountability, and a bias for precision in execution. This is a hybrid role, going into the San Jose, CA office 3 days a week. Reporting to the Sr Architect, Senior Development you'll be responsible for:
- Designing, implementing, and optimizing high‑performance network applications and protocols using C and Python
- Architecting and scaling distributed systems across multiple data centers with stringent performance, resiliency, and multi-tenant requirements
- Working within Linux environments to perform system programming, scripting, and troubleshooting
- Contributing to and guiding key domains including post‑quantum cryptography, Network Detection & Response (NDR), Zscaler Digital Experience (ZDX), and Zscaler OS
- Collaborating with teams to define requirements, design architectures, and ensure reliable software through testing and debugging
- 10 years of hands‑on C programming experience on Unix/FreeBSD/Linux in distributed, enterprise‑scale environments
- Proven expertise in high availability design, failover redundancy, load balancing, and performance optimization, with strong familiarity in SLOs, observability, and capacity planning for 24×7 services
- Deep understanding of networking protocols and services: DNS, HTTP/2, QUIC, TCP/IP, and SSL/TLS
- Experience with security technologies (firewall, IPS, authentication) and networking technologies (VPN/IPSec, data‑plane traffic forwarding).
- Proficiency in troubleshooting network issues using tools such as Wireshark, tcpdump, curl, and wget
- Experience with Python, Go, or Rust for systems and network programming
- Track record of staying current with industry trends and proposing improvements to reliability, scalability, and network efficiency
- Proficiency with AI code‑assistance tools (e.g., Windsurf, Cursor, GCA, Claude) to accelerate development, refactoring, unit testing, and troubleshooting
The base salary range listed for this full-time position excludes commission/ bonus/ equity (if applicable) benefits.
Base Pay Range
$182,000 - $260,000 USD
At Zscaler, we are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and the customers we work with. We foster an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives, emphasizing collaboration and belonging. Join us in our mission to make doing business seamless and secure.
Benefits
Our Benefits program is one of the most important ways we support our employees. Zscaler proudly offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families throughout their life stages, including:
- Various health plans
- Time off plans for vacation and sick time
- Parental leave options
- Retirement options
- Education reimbursement
- In-office perks, and more!
By applying for this role, you adhere to applicable laws, regulations, and Zscaler policies, including those related to security and privacy standards and guidelines.
Zscaler is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. We strive to create a workplace where employees are treated with respect and have the chance to succeed. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy or related medical conditions), age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. See more information by clicking on the Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal link.
Pay Transparency
Zscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules.
Zscaler is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations or adjustments) in our recruiting processes for candidates who are differently abled, have long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support.
Salary : $182,000 - $260,000
