Senior Principal Software Engineer – GlobalProtect (Windows & macOS Internals)
Palo Alto Networks · Posted Nov 4, 2026
- California, United States
- On-site
- Full-time · Principal
- $184K–$297K per year
- Visa sponsorship
Lead the design, reliability, and security of the GlobalProtect endpoint networking stack across Windows and macOS.
Compensation
The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/com-missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus.
Responsibilities
- Design and implement low-level components for GlobalProtect's virtual network adapters, packet interception, routing, split-tunneling, and DNS handling on Windows and macOS.
- Align the client with evolving OS models by moving Windows NDIS and WFP-based components toward KMDF, WFP, and user-mode patterns, and evolving macOS System Extension and NetworkExtension providers.
- Own Windows HLK test passes, WHQL/attestation signing, Apple Developer ID signing, notarization, and system extension provisioning.
- Serve as the escalation engineer for BSODs, kernel panics, deadlocks, pool corruption, memory leaks, and hard-to-reproduce hangs using WinDbg, LLDB, crash dump analysis, ETW, and unified logging.
- Drive fixes and design improvements for sleep/wake, Modern Standby, network change, and interface transition behavior.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field
- Nice to have: IPsec