Sr Staff Security Researcher (AI-Assisted Vulnerability Research)
Palo Alto Networks · Posted Oct 8, 2026
- Santa Clara, United States
- $148K–$239K per year
- 5+ years
- Visa sponsorship
Senior security researcher focused on AI-assisted vulnerability research, building and improving AI/security harnesses for discovering, validating, and reporting high-impact vulnerabilities in real-world software and open-source projects.
Compensation
$147,600.00 - $238,700.00/yr
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and improve AI/security harnesses for vulnerability research
- Produce high-quality research and security artifacts
- Conduct deep technical analysis across real-world software and open-source projects
- Build reusable research infrastructure
- Use LLMs, AI agents, fuzzing, static/dynamic analysis, program analysis, reverse engineering automation, and security automation to improve the quality, speed, coverage, and reliability of vulnerability research workflows
Requirements
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related technical field
- Nice to have: PhD in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, AI/ML, Systems, Programming Languages
- Nice to have: experience building AI agent harnesses
- Nice to have: experience handling real vulnerabilities end-to-end
- Nice to have: knowledge of security in Web Security, OS & Kernel Security, Browser Security, Software Supply Chain Security, OT/IoT Security, Network/Protocol Security, Cloud Security, Application Security