{"id":4212941,"url":"https://alion.io/job/zscaler-sr-staff-software-development-engineer-14","title":"Sr. Staff Software Development Engineer","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":83,"open_postings":59,"ghost_share":0.034,"stale_share":0.542,"repost_share":0.068,"time_to_fill_p50_days":47,"computed_at":"2026-11-12T10:38:37Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Santa Clara, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":180000,"max":225000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":225000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"DLP","optional":false},{"name":"FreeBSD","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Zero Trust","optional":false},{"name":"Zscaler","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-12T21:36:09Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-12","last_verified_at":"2026-11-13T01:39:44Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"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\n\n We are looking for a Sr. Staff Software Development Engineer to join our team. This is a hybrid based role in our Santa Clara, CA headquarters, reporting to the Senior Manager, Software Development Engineering in the Zero Trust Exchange department. In this position, you will serve as a key technical leader, contributing to architectural direction, designing high-performance systems-level subsystems, and leading the engineering execution of our next-generation inspection capabilities. You will shape the future of our technology, driving visionary innovation and collaborating across teams to deliver cutting-edge services.\nWhat you’ll do (Role Expectations)\nDesign and implement core components of our high-performance DLP engines, dictionary compilers, and distributed incident processing pipelines, writing clean, highly optimized systems-level C code\nLead the technical design and engineering execution for core Data Loss Prevention (DLP) libraries, inspection engines, and high-performance backend infrastructure\nMaintain and champion high architectural standards for multi-threaded C daemons on FreeBSD/Linux, implementing robust shared memory structures, high-performance Inter-Process Communication (IPC), and lockless concurrency\nServe as a primary technical escalation point for complex production issues, utilizing post-mortem core dump analysis, deep system profiling, and memory leak detection to resolve system bottlenecks\nWho You Are (Success Profile)\nYou act like an owner, demonstrating a strong bias for action and a deep care for outcomes while navigating seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution.\nYou are a learner who maintains a true growth mindset, actively seeking feedback to continuously develop yourself and work with a strong sense of purpose.\nYou are a positive force who approaches complex technical challenges with constructive, contagious energy that keeps your team inspired and focused on solutions.\nYou operate with urgency, maintaining a relentless focus on high-speed, high-quality execution to deliver impactful results quickly.\nYou are resilient and adaptable, viewing change as an opportunity and maintaining composure to guide yourself and your team through high-pressure situations.\nWhat We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)\nDemonstrated curiosity and active exploration of AI tools, with a proven history of integrating new technologies to enhance daily workflows and augment problem-solving\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\n8+ years of experience with systems software engineering, including a proven track record driving the design and delivery of high-performance backend platforms\nWhat Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)\nProven ability to leverage AI technologies and workflows to drive measurable operational efficiency\nFamiliarity with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technologies, including regex evaluation engines, custom dictionary compilers, and EDM (Exact Data Match) / IDM (Indexed Document Matching)\n#LI-DY1 #LI-SantaClara\nZscaler’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.\nThe base salary range listed for this full-time position excludes commission/ bonus/ equity (if applicable) + benefits.\nBase Pay Range\n$180,000—$225,000 USD\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":6787,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Hybrid work","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Network Security","Cloud Security"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-13T01:39:44Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"adverts_offering_sponsorship_24m":0,"sanctioned_now":false,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 154 · green card filings: 48","filings_12m":154,"filings_prev_12m":180,"green_card_filings_12m":48,"median_offered_wage_usd":192500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-11-12T07:36:15+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":111}],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":47,"reasons":["conf:1","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-13T03:25:41Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":225000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/zscaler-sr-staff-software-development-engineer-14","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/zscaler-sr-staff-software-development-engineer-14.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-13T03:25:41Z","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":7188,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-14T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"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-sr-staff-software-development-engineer-14"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"free","price":{"credits":0,"usd":0},"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-sr-staff-software-development-engineer-14"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"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-sr-staff-software-development-engineer-14"},{"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-sr-staff-software-development-engineer-14\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fzscaler-sr-staff-software-development-engineer-14"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":4212941}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"zscaler.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":4212941},"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. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}