Sr Staff Cross-Platform C++ Engineer (Cortex XDR)

Our Mission At Palo Alto Networks®, we’re united by a shared mission—to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you’re in the right place. Who We Are In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us! We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes. Job Summary Job Summary We are looking for a Senior Staff C Engineer to join our Tel Aviv R&D center and take a key engineering role within the Cross Platform Agent team. Key Responsibilities Lead the design and implementation of critical Cortex Agent components deployed across endpoint platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux) and cloud-native environments. Build and maintain high-quality, production-grade software in modern, high-performance C, owning the full lifecycle from design and implementation through automated test development and production support, including the handling of escalated cases. Own the ongoing maintenance, hardening, and operational stability of the Defender in cloud-native environments. Own the reliability and operational stability of the Defender components written in Go (Golang), focusing on production support, incident investigation, root-cause analysis, and hardening in large-scale cloud-native customer environments. Address complex security, reliability, and performance challenges across large-scale endpoint fleets and distributed cloud environments, including Kubernetes, containers, and container runtimes. Investigate and resolve complex production and field issues, translating operational insights into scalable, resilient, and efficient system improvements. Raise the bar on engineering quality by effectively leveraging AI tools in software engineering, leading pragmatic design discussions, conducting focused code reviews, and continuously improving system robustness, correctness, and performance. Qualifications Required Qualifications 5 years of hands-on experience developing production-grade systems in modern C (C14/17/20). Strong problem-solving skills and a proactive, hands-on mindset; able to work independently, operate effectively in ambiguous problem spaces, and collaborate to drive technical alignment within a team. Proven ability to design, build, and own complex software components, contributing across the full software development lifecycle - from design through production support. Solid experience with multi-threaded and multi-process systems, with a strong focus on performance, scalability, and efficient CPU and memory utilization. Experience working in cloud-native environments, including Kubernetes, containers, and container runtimes (e.g., Docker, CRI-O). B.Sc. in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience. Preferred Qualifications Background in cybersecurity, particularly in endpoint security, cloud security, EDR, or CDR systems. Experience working with Go (Golang). Understanding of Linux OS internals, including processes, memory management, syscalls, and userspace-kernel interactions, particularly in the context of cloud workloads. Experience with low-level Linux o ... (truncated, view full listing at source)