{"id":3450570,"url":"https://alion.io/job/zscaler-principal-software-development-engineer-backend-dev-clinuxgdb","title":"Principal Software Development Engineer (Backend Dev - C/Linux/GDB)","company":{"id":1208,"name":"Zscaler","domain":"zscaler.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/zscaler","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":84,"open_postings":55,"ghost_share":0.036,"stale_share":0.509,"repost_share":0.091,"time_to_fill_p50_days":46,"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Bengaluru, India"],"countries":["IN"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":26000,"max_usd":66000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":74},"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"DLP","optional":false},{"name":"FreeBSD","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Valgrind","optional":false},{"name":"Zero Trust","optional":false},{"name":"Zscaler","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":true},{"name":"Azure","optional":true},{"name":"C","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-29T09:16:14Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-29","last_verified_at":"2026-10-31T05:59:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"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.\nWe 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.\nRole\nWe are looking for a Principal Software Development Engineer to join our team. This is a Hybrid role, reporting to the Senior Manager, Software Development Engineering in the Data Protection department. \nIn this position, you will serve as a premier technical leader, defining architectural direction, designing high-performance systems-level subsystems, and driving the engineering execution of our next-generation inspection capabilities.\nWhat you’ll do (Role Expectations)\nArchitect and implement high-performance DLP engines, dictionary compilers, and distributed incident processing pipelines, setting the benchmark for clean, highly optimized systems-level C code running in production proxy runtimes\nOwn the technical direction and architectural roadmap for line-rate pattern matching, regular expression evaluators, custom dictionary compilers, exact data match (EDM), and indexed document matching (IDM)\nHelp develop next-generation Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions utilizing Machine Learning (ML) models, collaborating with data science teams to successfully deploy and integrate models in high-throughput data paths while balancing inspection capabilities against strict network latency and resource constraints\nEstablish and enforce exacting architectural standards for multi-threaded C daemons on FreeBSD/Linux, designing robust shared memory structures, high-performance Inter-Process Communication (IPC), lockless concurrency, and memory-safe subsystems\nServe as the technical escalation authority for critical production issues-leading hands-on post-mortem core dump analysis, deep system profiling, and leak detection\nWho You Are (Success Profile)\nYou act like an owner with a bias for action, navigating seamlessly between high-level architectural strategy and hands-on execution.\nYou are a high-trust collaborator who embraces open feedback, communicates with candor and respect, and champions the collective success of the engineering team.\nYou are customer-obsessed, anchoring technical and design decisions in solving real-world challenges for both internal stakeholders and external users.\nYou are driven by innovation and intellectual curiosity, continually seeking robust, secure, and scalable approaches to complex systems engineering challenges.\nYou lead with integrity and high accountability, building trust through consistent, transparent action and technical stewardship.\nWhat We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)\nFoundational understanding of AI/ML technologies and experience leveraging, securing, or positioning AI-driven solutions to optimize outcomes within your functional domain\n10+ years of experience with systems software engineering, including a proven track record of technical leadership (e.g., as a Tech Lead or Principal Engineer) driving the design and delivery of high-performance backend platforms\nAdvanced hands-on proficiency in C programming on Linux or FreeBSD runtime environments, with deep architectural expertise in Inter-Process Communication (IPC) and shared memory architectures\nExpert-level proficiency in production troubleshooting and root-cause analysis, including post-mortem core dump analysis, GDB/LLDB debugging, Valgrind, and system-level performance tracing\nProven track record of mentoring, guiding, and multiplying the impact of systems software engineers across the organization, championing engineering excellence, conducting rigorous design reviews, and fostering continuous technical growth\nWhat Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)\nProven ability to leverage AI technologies and workflows to drive measurable operational efficiency\nStrong familiarity with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technologies, including regex evaluation engines, custom dictionary compilers, and EDM (Exact Data Match) / IDM (Indexed Document Matching) profiles\nHands-on experience or familiarity with public cloud environments (specifically AWS and Azure), including deploying, optimizing, or maintaining performance-intensive cloud-native systems\n#LI-SK3 \nAt 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.\nOur 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:\nVarious health plans\nTime off plans for vacation and sick time\nParental leave options\nRetirement options\nEducation reimbursement\nIn-office perks, and more!\nLearn more about Zscaler's hybrid working model and benefits here.\nBy applying for this role, you adhere to applicable laws, regulations, and Zscaler policies, including those related to security and privacy standards and guidelines.\nZscaler 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.\nPay Transparency\nZscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules.\nZscaler 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.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7115,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Hybrid work","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"India","iso":"IN","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Network Security","Cloud Security"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-29T10:45:02Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":63,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.632,"p_room":1,"age_days":1,"expected_fill_days":46,"reasons":["seen:1","stale_co","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/zscaler-principal-software-development-engineer-backend-dev-clinuxgdb","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/zscaler-principal-software-development-engineer-backend-dev-clinuxgdb.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-31T06:07:50Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":8923,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-01T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":1208},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1208"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fzscaler-principal-software-development-engineer-backend-dev-clinuxgdb"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fzscaler-principal-software-development-engineer-backend-dev-clinuxgdb"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fzscaler-principal-software-development-engineer-backend-dev-clinuxgdb"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/zscaler-principal-software-development-engineer-backend-dev-clinuxgdb\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fzscaler-principal-software-development-engineer-backend-dev-clinuxgdb"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3450570}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"zscaler.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3450570},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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