Principal Security Researcher - Identity - Security Automation (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
Are you passionate about advancing automation in identity security? Do you thrive at the intersection of research, innovation, and large-scale impact? As a Principal Security Researcher, you will drive the design of autonomous response strategies to counter identity-based threats, misconfigurations, and abuse scenarios. Your research will directly shape the Cortex platform’s ability to remediate identity-driven attacks, ensuring effective, safe, and scalable automation for our customers. You will collaborate with world-class researchers and engineers to deliver on the vision of the Autonomous SOC.

Your Impact

Lead the design and implementation of robust, testable, and safe remediation playbooks for identity-related threats (e.g., privilege escalation, credential abuse, lateral movement, IAM misconfigurations).
Conduct deep research on adversary TTPs targeting identity systems and translate insights into automated detection and response mechanisms.
Drive innovation in identity security automation by applying data analysis, modeling, and programming to refine remediation strategies.
Serve as a subject-matter expert and mentor within the research group, elevating the team’s overall expertise in identity security.
Stay ahead of evolving identity-based attack vectors, cloud-native identity risks, and advanced adversary tradecraft to ensure our automation keeps pace with threats.

Qualifications

Your Experience

Extensive background in identity security, including areas such as Active Directory, Azure AD, SSO, federation protocols, and identity lifecycle management.
Proven expertise in at least one of the following: incident response, red teaming, advanced detection research, or identity threat hunting.
Hands-on experience with cloud identity platforms and services (e.g., AWS IAM, Azure AD, GCP IAM) and their security controls.
Proficiency in Python, with practical experience building security automations, detection rules, or SOAR playbooks.
Experience using SQL or other query languages for large-scale data analysis to support research and validation of remediation approaches.
Strong analytical mindset, independent thinking, and proven ability to lead cross-functional collaboration.

Advantages

Experience with big data platforms (e.g., GCP BigQuery, AWS Athena, Snowflake) to analyze large-scale identity telemetry.
Familiarity with Cortex XSIAM, XDR, SOAR, or similar platforms that integrate detection and response.
Deep knowledge of identity-focused adversary techniques, including pass-the-hash, Golden/Silver tickets, SAML manipulation, and cloud identity abuse.
Experience with machine learning or AI-driven approaches to identity analytics and anomaly detection.
Demonstrated leadership in publishing, mentoring, or community contributions in the identity security research domain.

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.