Principal AI Engineer at Zscaler

United States

$185.5k - $265k

<div class="content-intro"><p>About <strong>Zscaler</strong></p> <p>Zscaler accelerates digital transformation to ensure our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. As an <strong>AI-forward enterprise</strong>, 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.</p> <p>Here, <strong>impact in your role matters more than title</strong> 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 <strong>constructive, honest debate</strong>—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 <strong>customer obsession</strong>, collaboration, ownership, and accountability.</p> <p>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.</p></div><p>We are looking for a Principal AI Engineer to join our team. This is a Remote role reporting to the Director, Customer Success Intelligence &amp; Automation within the Customer Success organization. The Principal AI Engineer is responsible for designing and evolving the foundational AI platform that powers Customer Success AI products and internal-facing AI solutions. Rather than focusing solely on individual products, this role develops the reusable platform capabilities that enable multiple AI experiences, including context management, orchestration, enterprise memory, planning, workflow execution, governance, observability, and model integration. The Principal AI Engineer partners closely with Product Management, Engineering, IT, Security, Data, AI Platform, and Customer Success stakeholders to ensure platform capabilities enable scalable, secure, and reliable AI-powered experiences across the Customer Success organization.</p> <p><strong>What you’ll do (Role Expectations)</strong></p> <ul> <li>Design, evolve, and scale the Customer Success AI platform, including reusable services and reference architectures that support multiple AI products and internal AI experiences</li> <li>Build and maintain foundational AI infrastructure such as orchestration services, context engines, memory services, workflow execution frameworks, enterprise integrations, and scalable architectures for multi-agent systems</li> <li>Optimize platform capabilities across model routing, latency, cost, reliability, observability, governance, and security to ensure enterprise-grade performance and resilience</li> <li>Lead technical architecture and engineering standards across multiple AI products, mentoring AI Engineers and driving engineering excellence through reusable frameworks, patterns, and platform capabilities</li> <li>Partner cross-functionally with Product Management, Engineering, IT, Security, Data, and Customer Success teams to evaluate emerging AI technologies, shape adoption strategy, and align platform evolution with long-term business and enterprise architecture needs</li> </ul> <p><strong>Who You Are (Success Profile)</strong></p> <ul> <li>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.</li> <li>You think at scale. You connect your day-to-day work to the larger company mission and think globally. You build solutions, processes, and teams that are not just effective today but are built to last and support a high-growth, global organization.</li> <li>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. You adapt to what’s needed, navigating seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>You are driven by innovation. You have a deep curiosity for how things work and are energized by solving complex technical challenges. You believe in the power of technology to accelerate transformation and are always looking for a better, more secure, and scalable way.</li> </ul> <p><strong>What We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)</strong></p> <ul> <li>Foundational understanding of AI/ML technologies and experience leveraging, securing, or positioning AI-driven solutions to optimize outcomes within your functional domain</li> <li>Demonstrated curiosity and active exploration of AI tools, with a proven history of integrating new technologies to enhance daily workflows and augment problem-solving</li> <li>10+ years of software engineering experience, including 4+ years building production AI or machine learning systems</li> <li>Deep expertise in distributed systems, cloud-native architectures, and enterprise-scale software design</li> <li>Strong understanding of AI agents, LLM orchestration, RAG, planning systems, and enterprise AI architecture patterns</li> <li>Experience designing reusable platforms and defining technical architecture across multiple products or engineering teams</li> <li>Strong leadership, mentoring, communication, and systems thinking skills, with the ability to influence technical direction in complex environments</li> </ul> <p><strong>What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience building autonomous agentic loops with advanced memory architectures and state management frameworks for long-running enterprise workflows</li> <li>Experience designing enterprise AI platforms and building reusable capabilities that support multiple AI products from a common foundation</li> <li>Experience building multi-agent orchestration frameworks and integrating enterprise tools through APIs and MCP servers</li> <li>Experience with semantic models, enterprise memory, vector search, knowledge graphs, and other advanced knowledge system patterns</li> </ul> <p>#LI-NH1 #LI-Remote</p><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description"><p>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.</p> <p>The base salary range listed for this full-time position excludes commission/ bonus/ equity (if applicable) + benefits.</p></div><div class="title">Base Pay Range</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$185,500</span><span class="divider">&mdash;</span><span>$265,000 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><p data-pm-slice="1 3 []">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.</p> <p>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:</p> <div class="has-nudge" data-nudge-id="5eb9419b-6a4d-4451-bfa6-e2eb96084be0"> <ul> <li>Various health plans</li> <li>Time off plans for vacation and sick time</li> <li>Parental leave options</li> <li>Retirement options</li> <li>Education reimbursement</li> <li>In-office perks, and more!</li> </ul> <div class="has-nudge" data-nudge-id="5eb9419b-6a4d-4451-bfa6-e2eb96084be0"> <p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Learn more about Zscaler's hybrid working model and benefits&nbsp;<a href="https://www.zscaler.com/candidate-resource-hub" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> </div> </div> <p>By applying for this role, you adhere to applicable laws, regulations, and Zscaler policies, including those related to security and privacy standards and guidelines.</p> <p class="p1">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. <em>See more information by clicking on the </em><a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf"><em>Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal </em></a><em>link.</em></p> <p>Pay Transparency</p> <p>Zscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules.</p> <p>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.</p></div>