Principal Machine Learning Engineer

About Zscaler

Serving thousands of enterprise customers around the world including 40% of Fortune 500 companies, Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) was founded in 2007 with a mission to make the cloud a safe place to do business and a more enjoyable experience for enterprise users. As the operator of the world’s largest security cloud, Zscaler accelerates digital transformation so enterprises can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. The pioneering, AI-powered Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ platform, which is found in our SASE and SSE offerings, protects thousands of enterprise customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location.

Named a Best Workplace in Technology by Fortune and others, Zscaler fosters an inclusive and supportive culture that is home to some of the brightest minds in the industry. If you thrive in an environment that is fast-paced and collaborative, and you are passionate about building and innovating for the greater good, come make your next move with Zscaler. 

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.

We're hiring a talented Principal Machine Learning Engineer to join our growing ML/AI team at Zscaler. The team focuses on various cybersecurity use cases including threat detection, policy recommendation, malware detection, content classification, and anomaly detection. In this role, you'll have the opportunity to work on innovative ML/AI projects that address important cybersecurity challenges.  This is a hybrid work environment, going into our San Jose, CA office 3 days a week.  Reporting to the Sr. Director, Machine Learning, you'll be responsible for: 

• Leading the design and development of cutting edge, production ready ML systems and pipelines, cybersecurity applications and providing technical guidance to junior and mid-level engineers 
• Optimizing existing machine learning pipelines for improved efficiency and scalability 
• Exploring and experimenting with advanced AI techniques and architectures to solve complex cybersecurity problems as well as staying updated on the latest advancements in AI and applying them to our cybersecurity solutions 
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to define project requirements and ensure alignment with business objectives 
• Ensuring systems and applications meet reliability, scalability and performance requirements 

What We're Looking for (Minimum Qualifications) 

• 10+ years of experience as a Machine Learning Engineer, with a proven track record of delivering successful projects., along with a solid understanding of machine learning concepts and their applications in cybersecurity 
• Excellent communication skills with ability to translate complex technical concepts to stakeholders
• Strong proficiency in Python, SQL, ML libraries and frameworks
• Extensive experience in data modeling, feature engineering, model development, and error analysis 
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (Master's Degree or PhD preferred)

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications) 

• Proven track record of designing, building and shipping end-end applications at scale, with familiarity with multi-agent systems and orchestration frameworks
• Strong experience with LLM’s, agent architectures, prompt engineering and SOTA AI frameworks, along with contributions to open-source ML projects, top-tier research publications
• Deep expertise with cloud infrastructure (e.g. AWS, GCP) for AI workloads

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Zscaler’s salary ranges are benchmarked and are determined by role and level. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations and could be higher or lower based on a multitude of factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

The base salary range listed for this full-time position excludes commission/ bonus/ equity (if applicable) + benefits.

Base Pay Range$175,000—$250,000 USD

At Zscaler, we believe that diversity drives innovation, productivity, and success. We are looking for individuals from all backgrounds and identities to join our team and contribute to our mission to make doing business seamless and secure. We are guided by these principles as we create a representative and impactful team, and a culture where everyone belongs. For more information on our commitments to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, visit the Corporate Responsibility page of our website.

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 proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all of our employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration 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 characteristics 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. For additional information about the federal requirements, click here.

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.