Sr. Staff Software Development Engineer

Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) accelerates digital transformation so customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Distributed across 200+ public data centers globally and thousands of private sites at the edge, the SASE-based Zero Trust Exchange is the world’s largest in-line cloud security platform.

We believe the future of work is Human + AI and are building an AI-native enterprise where human potential is amplified by machine intelligence to solve the world’s hardest security challenges. Driven by deep customer obsession, we are committed to the mission, outcome, and to each other. We bring these commitments to life through three core behaviors: ownership and collaboration, trust through outcomes and impact, and a challenge culture with ongoing feedback. Ready to make an impact at the company pioneering security transformation in the AI era? Join us at Zscaler.

Role

We are looking for a Senior Staff DevOps engineer reporting to the Senior Manager in the Engineering department. This role is crucial to our Engineering team, which has built the world’s largest cloud security platform and continues to expand its global footprint and services. You will own mission-critical functions including deployments, production operations, observability, monitoring and alerting, incident management, automation, and platform reliability. In this role, you will serve as a premier technical leader troubleshooting complex distributed systems, optimizing AWS environments, and advancing modern GitLab-based CI/CD practices to maximize system resiliency and engineering velocity.

What you’ll do (Role Expectations)

• Lead operational ownership for cloud-based products, overseeing deployments, production support, on-call escalations, and incident resolution
• Architect, manage, and optimize resilient container-based architectures utilizing AWS EKS, Kubernetes, and automated cloud infrastructure solutions
• Scale end-to-end observability, monitoring, and alerting frameworks across distributed systems to proactively detect anomalies and accelerate remediation
• Champion troubleshooting initiatives for high-severity challenges spanning distributed platforms, networking, Kubernetes clusters, and deployment pipelines
• Advance DevOps practices by designing and standardizing GitLab CI/CD pipelines, runners, release workflows, and automation frameworks

Who You Are (Success Profile)

• You are a strategic platform thinker with deep expertise in cloud operations, modern platform architecture, and distributed systems reliability.
• You are an accountable owner who takes full responsibility for production health, system performance, and operational excellence.
• You are an expert troubleshooter and technical leader who rapidly diagnoses complex incidents and implements sustainable, preventive solutions.
• You are an influential communicator and collaborator capable of driving technical direction and establishing cross-functional engineering standards.
• You navigate seamlessly between high-level architectural strategy and hands-on technical execution while championing continuous learning in modern cloud and AI-driven operations.

What We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)

• Foundational understanding of AI/ML technologies and experience leveraging, securing, or applying AI-driven solutions within an engineering or operations domain
• 10+ years of relevant experience designing, operating, tuning, and troubleshooting large-scale distributed systems
• Deep hands-on expertise in AWS, Kubernetes, AWS EKS, Terraform, Ansible, GitLab, and Python
• Demonstrated experience building and operating robust observability, monitoring, alerting, and operational diagnostic solutions across cloud platforms
• Proven track record in advanced troubleshooting across infrastructure, networking, container platforms, and CI/CD pipelines

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Proven ability to leverage AI technologies and workflows to drive measurable operational efficiency
• Recognized expertise in incident recovery, root-cause analysis, and preventive reliability engineering in high-scale cloud environments
• Demonstrated success in optimizing AWS environments for latency, throughput, resiliency, and cost efficiency

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#Hybrid

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:

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.