Security Research Manager (Cortex)

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!

Job Description

Your Career

If you are an innovator at heart and passionate about redefining how organizations secure modern environments end-to-end, we're looking for you.

We’re looking for a Security Research Manager to lead a team focused on two of the fastest-growing domains in cybersecurity: autonomous investigation and response (Autopilot), and macOS detection and response. This is a unique opportunity to lead an exceptional team of researchers within the largest security company in the world, helping to revolutionize threat detection, investigation and response through patent-grade capabilities.

Your Impact

Lead, mentor, and grow a team of talented security researchers
Drive the inception, strategy and execution of our autonomous investigation and response solution (Autopilot)
Drive the strategy and execution of research initiatives to uncover novel techniques to detect and respond to sophisticated attacks targeting macOS endpoints
Define and prioritize detection and investigation use cases, relevant datasets, and innovative approaches based on runtime visibility, statistic algorithms and threat intelligence
Stay up to date with the latest attacker methodologies, APT campaigns, and TTPs to ensure our detection capabilities stay ahead of evolving threats
Oversee simulation of real-world attacks and deep behavioral analysis to inform and validate detection content
Foster collaboration across research, engineering, product management, and go-to-market teams to deliver impactful security solutions. Represent the team and share insights with the security community through blogs, conference talks, and publications

Qualifications

Your Experience

7+ years in security research with a proven track record of driving large-scale, impactful projects
2+ years in a leadership or management role, including mentoring researchers and setting research strategy
Intimate knowledge and understanding of attack methods and techniques over endpoints and enterprise networks
In-depth knowledge of the inner-workings of operating systems (Windows/Linux/MacOS)
Proven experience as part of an R&D/development team, along with strong proficiency in Python programming
Experience and interest in at least one of: incident response, red team, advanced threat hunting, detection research, advanced detection engineering
Comfortable conducting research and gathering insights by querying large databases
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex research findings and drive alignment across diverse teams
Comfortable leading multiple focus areas, while collaborating with different stakeholders
Ability to initiate, drive and own projects
Independent, team player, critical thinker

Advantages

Experience working with graph DBs and algorithms
Experience in statistics, advanced data studies, or machine learning
Experience in macOS internals

Additional Information

The Team

Our research 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 researchers 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.

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 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.