Sr Staff Software Development Engineer (Layer 7 Security & Proxy) – Layer 7 Security & Proxy

Job Description

Sr Staff Software Engineer (Layer 7 Security & Proxy) | Zscaler

The Tone:
This is a hybrid role, located in Santa Clara, CA, where you’ll contribute to Zscaler’s mission of accelerating digital transformation for customers. Zscaler operates the Zero Trust Exchange platform, a cloud security solution protecting thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications. This role is crucial for providing technical leadership for the ZIA proxy architecture, with a strong focus on advanced Layer 7 protocols and SSL inspection. You will significantly impact the quality of code shipped to production and modernize the ZIA codebase, supporting and accelerating the delivery of key proxy roadmap features on a strong and scalable foundation.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Type: Full Time
• Location: Hybrid Santa Clara, CA
• Pay: $180000–$225000 yearly
• Team: Zero Trust Exchange department, reporting to the Director, Software Development Engineering
• Mission: This person provides technical leadership for the ZIA proxy architecture, ensuring a strong, scalable foundation for delivering key proxy roadmap features and improving codebase quality.
• Tech Stack: C language

What You’ll Actually Do
• Support: Support end-to-end QUIC/HTTP/3 and HTTP/2 proxy and TLS/SSL architecture in ZIA.
• Define: Define and evolve ZIA proxy architecture.
• Partner: Partner with Product Management and engineering on solution design, trade-offs, and end-to-end delivery of core ZIA functionality.
• Establish: Establish reference architectures and design patterns for ZIA components and integrations.
• Provide: Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and architectural governance across virtual and product teams.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, with a focus on designing and implementing networking security software and public cloud infrastructure.
• Experience: 8+ years of total experience, with proven success in designing, optimizing, and troubleshooting high-throughput, low-latency network security products.
• Skills: Deep understanding of Proxies, HTTP/2, QUIC, TCP/IP, TLS/DTLS, and SSL proxies; proficiency in C language; foundational understanding of AI/ML technologies.
• Bonus: Proven ability to leverage AI technologies and workflows to drive measurable operational efficiency; mastery of TCP/IP, DNS, Http(s), VPN technologies (IPSec, SSL VPN), NAT, and load balancing; knowledge of BSD/Linux operating systems, virtualization technologies, and DPDK or similar kernel bypass techniques.