Zscaler
Sr. Software Development Engineer - Control Plane, Reliability, Backend (Flexibility on level)
About Zscaler
Zscaler accelerates digital transformation to ensure our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. As an AI-forward enterprise, we are constantly pushing the envelope, leveraging the world’s largest security data lake to power our cloud-native Zero Trust Exchange platform. This innovation protects our customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location.
Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We say, impact over activity. We seek innovators who actively use AI to amplify their impact and who thrive in an environment where we leverage intelligent systems to stay ahead of evolving threats. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate—we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession, collaboration, ownership, and accountability.
We value high-impact, high-accountability with a sense of urgency where you’re enabled to do your best work and embrace your potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges, and want to be part of the team that’s helping to secure the AI age, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler and help shape the future of cybersecurity.
Role
We are looking for a Software Engineer (Reliability) to join our team in San Jose, CA, reporting to the Vice President of Engineering. This is a hybrid role three days a week onsite within the Service Platform Automation department.
You will build and operate the orchestration and reliability automation that manages ZIA’s fleet lifecycle at massive scale. This is a high-ownership role: you will design and implement orchestration workflows and the supporting services needed for safe, deterministic, idempotent fleet operations—while helping the team evolve toward AI-first execution and operations.
What you’ll do (Role Expectations)
Replace legacy Python/Ansible with a centralized, deterministic orchestration platform, refactoring automation into modular, well-defined workflows while retiring external dependencies and nested logic
Engineer execution patterns with retries, idempotency, rate limits/backpressure, and safe rollbacks/compensation designs aligned to global fleet capacity
Implement safe rollouts using segmentation, canaries, and automated health checks to limit blast radius during fleet-wide upgrades and remediation
Add strong observability and auditability (metrics, traces, replayable histories), participate in on-call rotation, and drive software based fixes to reduce toil following post-incident reviews
Integrate AI/LLM capabilities to accelerate legacy code migration and enhance safe operational outcomes through intelligent triage, correlation, and automated runbook generation
Who You Are (Success Profile)
You thrive in ambiguity. You're comfortable building the path as you walk it. You thrive in a dynamic environment, seeing ambiguity not as a hindrance, but as the raw material to build something meaningful.
You act like an owner. Your passion for the mission fuels your bias for action. You operate with integrity because you genuinely care about the outcome. True ownership involves leveraging dynamic range: the ability to navigate seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution.
You are a problem-solver. You love running towards the challenges because you are laser-focused on finding the solution, knowing that solving the hard problems delivers the biggest impact.
You are a high-trust collaborator. You are ambitious for the team, not just yourself. You embrace our challenge culture by giving and receiving ongoing feedback—knowing that candor delivered with clarity and respect is the truest form of teamwork and the fastest way to earn trust.
You are a learner. You have a true growth mindset and are obsessed with your own development, actively seeking feedback to become a better partner and a stronger teammate. You love what you do and you do it with purpose.
What We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)
BS/MS in Computer Science or a related technical field with 5+ years of experience building and operating production-grade software systems
Strong proficiency in backend/systems languages (Go, Java, C++, or Rust) with the ability to write high-quality, maintainable code
Deep experience designing and operating distributed systems, including concurrency, failure handling, performance optimization, and data modeling
Proven track record of building automation using REST APIs and Swagger with strong guarantees for idempotency, verification, and safe rollout patterns
Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS/GCP, GKE, Cloud SQL etc.) and proficiency in containerization and CI/CD workflows using Docker and GitLab
What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)
Experience with Temporal (or similar platforms) to architect large-scale fleet systems for patching, upgrades, and remediation using deterministic, health-gated workflows and replay-safe designs
Testing discipline for orchestration and state machines, including E2E harnesses, determinism verification, fault injection, and chaos engineering to ensure system reliability
Proficiency in PostgreSQL, including SQL development and schema management, to power high-scale, stateful management-plane services and workflows
#LIHybrid #LI-BH1
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.
At Zscaler, we are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and the customers we work with. We foster an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives, emphasizing collaboration and belonging. Join us in our mission to make doing business seamless and secure.
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!
Learn more about Zscaler’s Future of Work strategy, hybrid working model, and benefits here.
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 committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. We strive to create a workplace where employees are treated with respect and have the chance to succeed. All qualified applicants will be considered 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 characteristic 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.
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.
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