Sr. Staff Software Engineer - Agentic AI & Digital Experience

We are looking for a Sr. Staff Software Engineer to join our Digital Experience team. This is a hybrid role based in San Jose, CA, reporting to the Sr. Director, Software Engineering.

You will join the team responsible for building the world's largest cloud security platform, helping us enhance services and increase our global footprint. You will play a pivotal role in enabling organizations worldwide to harness speed and agility through a cloud-first strategy, leveraging our multitenant architecture that serves over 15 million users.

What you'll do (Role Expectations)

• Own agentic AI delivery end-to-end, framing high-impact use cases, designing agent workflows, and building frameworks for all products
• Evaluate and integrate state-of-the-art GenAI advances to deliver reliable and cost-efficient production features, utilizing LLMs, SLMs, retrieval, fine-tuning, and inference optimization
• Design, implement, and operate scalable production systems, specifically focusing on microservices, data pipelines, orchestration, and caching
• Partner with Product, UX, and customers to turn ambiguous problems into measurable outcomes with clear SLAs, telemetry, and feedback loops

• 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., * BS in Computer Science with 7+ years of experience, or MS/PhD with 6+ years of experience solving real-world problems using AI/ML and distributed systems
• Proficiency in programming, data structures, algorithms, and machine learning, with exceptional problem-solving skills driven by first-principles thinking
• Experience in the full lifecycle of ML models, including building, deployment, monitoring, and optimization
• Hands-on experience with modern GenAI stacks, such as LangChain, CrewAI, vector stores, RAG, prompts, and evaluators
• Expertise in designing and operating distributed microservices using tools like Kubernetes and Docker, and writing production-grade code in Python, Go, or Java

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience fine-tuning and deploying proprietary SLMs/LLMs at scale, with a focus on optimizing latency, cost, safety, and evaluations
• Experience delivering production-ready agentic systems, including expertise in context engineering and memory management strategies
• Proven ability to design and implement high-performance, resilient systems with well-defined service-level objectives

#LI-Hybrid #LI-YC2

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.

Base Pay Range

$147,000-$220,000 USD

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!

About Zscaler Zscaler is a pioneer and global leader in zero trust security. The world's largest businesses, critical infrastructure organizations, and government agencies rely on Zscaler to secure users, branches, applications, data & devices, and to accelerate digital transformation initiatives. Distributed across more than 160 data centers globally, the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform combined with advanced AI combats billions of cyber threats and policy violations every day and unlocks productivity gains for modern enterprises by reducing costs and complexity. Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. 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 champion an "AI Forward, People First" philosophy to help us accelerate and innovate, empowering our people to embrace their potential. If you're driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges and want to make a positive difference on a global scale, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler to help shape the future of cybersecurity., Learn more about Zscaler's Future of Work strategy, hybrid working model, and benefits here (https://www.zscaler.com/careers) .