Senior Principal Architect – Firewall /Network Security - Product Development

SonicWall is a cybersecurity forerunner with more than 30 years of expertise and is recognized as a leading partner-first company, ensuring our partners and their customers are never alone in the fight against cybercrime. With the ability to build, scale and manage security across the cloud, hybrid and traditional environments in real-time, SonicWall provides relentless security against the most evasive cyberattacks across endless exposure points for increasingly remote, mobile and cloud-enabled users. With its own threat research center, SonicWall can quickly and economically provide purpose-built security solutions to enable any organization—enterprise, government agencies and SMBs—around the world. For more information, visit www.sonicwall.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Software Architect to define, design, and guide the development of our next-generation Firewall and Network Security platform. You will play a key role in shaping the technical direction, architecture, and scalability of core product components — including the data plane, control plane, and management layers.

This role demands a deep hands-on understanding of systems software, networking, and performance optimization, combined with the ability to mentor teams and influence design decisions across multiple modules.

Key Responsibilities:

Architecture & Design

• Own the system and component architecture for one or more major subsystems (e.g., Data Plane, Control Plane, Policy Engine, Management/UI).
• Design for scalability, throughput, and reliability across distributed and high-performance systems.
• Evaluate and select technologies, frameworks, and algorithms aligned with performance and maintainability goals.
• Collaborate with other architects and the Director to ensure architectural consistency across the platform.
• Translate product and customer requirements into detailed technical designs and interfaces.

Technical Leadership

• Review design documents, APIs, and code for architectural alignment and quality.
• Guide engineers in implementing robust, modular, and maintainable code.
• Lead performance profiling, debugging, and root-cause analysis of complex system issues.
• Establish design patterns, coding standards, and system documentation practices.
• Serve as a technical advisor to engineering managers and senior engineers during implementation.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Product Management to evaluate technical feasibility of new features.
• Coordinate with QA, DevOps, and Security teams to ensure testability, observability, and release readiness.
• Support customer escalations when deep technical insight is required.

Required Skills & Experience

• 12+ years of experience in C/C++ systems software development.
• Strong expertise in network security concepts (TCP/IP, IPsec, VPN, routing, NAT, DPI, etc.).
• Proven experience designing multi-threaded, high-performance, and low-latency systems.
• Deep understanding of OS internals, memory management, concurrency, and networking stacks.
• Experience with DPDK, Netfilter or equivalent frameworks.
• Excellent analytical, debugging, and performance-tuning skills.
• Demonstrated ability to write and review detailed design and architecture documents.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across teams and roles.

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SonicWall is an equal opportunity employer.  

We are committed to creating a diverse environment and are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

At SonicWall, we pride ourselves on recruiting a diverse mix of talented people and providing active security solutions in 100+ countries.

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