Senior Staff AI 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 AI Engineer to join our Information Technology Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Engineering team, reporting directly to the Senior Manager, AI Engineering, based out of our Santa Clara, CA office on a 3-day hybrid schedule. In this hands-on leadership role, you will serve as the technical lead across two high-impact organizations-the AI Platform group and the AI Solutions and Support group-defining architectural vision, establishing core enterprise infrastructure, such as model gateways and context management, and driving production-grade AI applications and operational workflows across global teams.

What you'll do

• Architect and scale enterprise AI platform capabilities, including model gateways, intelligent routing, cost governance, LLM observability, evaluation pipelines, and long-term agent memory
• Direct technical execution for AI solutions and support, spearheading enterprise AI platform administration, intelligent search experiences, and scalable L2 operational support frameworks
• Lead distributed engineering teams across the US and India, aligning roadmap priorities, conducting technical reviews, and fostering seamless communication across time zones
• Establish engineering excellence and production AI quality gates, overseeing hands-on code development, CI/CD pipelines, regression suites, and latency and cost optimization
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders in Security, Legal, Privacy, and enterprise business units to ensure compliant, secure, and impactful AI enablement

Who You Are

• You are a seasoned technical leader who thrives at the intersection of enterprise architecture, distributed team leadership, and hands-on software engineering.
• You possess deep technical breadth in architecting production-grade LLM applications, retrieval-augmented generation systems, and comprehensive AI evaluation frameworks.
• You are an operational driver with a proven track record of reducing systemic friction, resolving production incidents, and automating support processes.
• You excel at bridging time zones and cultures, empowering both internal engineers and external partners through empathetic mentorship and clear technical guidance.
• You are an articulate communicator and collaborative partner who seamlessly aligns technical strategy with executive stakeholders across business, security, and governance functions.

What We're Looking for

• Demonstrated hands-on experience building and deploying production-grade AI/LLM applications, including prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), agents, function calling/MCP, and model evaluation or observability frameworks
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• 3+ years of technical leadership experience guiding distributed engineering teams and external contractors across multiple time zones
• Proficiency in full-stack development utilizing Python, TypeScript/Node.js (or Java/Go), modern front-end frameworks like React, and robust API design
• Hands-on expertise in cloud and containerized infrastructure, including AWS (or GCP/Azure), Docker, Kubernetes, and automated CI/CD deployment pipelines
• Proven background operating production enterprise services, including incident response, on-call management, runbook development, and SLA governance

What Will Make You Stand Out

• Advanced expertise administering enterprise AI platforms (such as OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Amazon Bedrock, or Google Vertex AI) with comprehensive cost governance, security controls, and usage optimization
• Experience architecting vector and graph database solutions, semantic caching, and dynamic long-term agent memory management
• Proven success deploying intelligent conversational bots, search experiences, and Slack integrations within enterprise workflows, alongside familiarity with model fine-tuning, open-weight model serving, or compliance standards in regulated environments such as FedRAMP

#LI-YC2 #LI-Hybrid

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

$180,000—$225,000 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!

Learn more about Zscaler's hybrid working model and benefits  here.

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.