Security Research Manager - Core Cloud Posture (Cortex Cloud)

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.
Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes.

Job Description

Your Career

If you are an innovator at heart and passionate about redefining how organizations secure modern environments end-to-end, we're looking for you. 

As a Manager of the Core Cloud Posture team, you will lead a new, high-impact team of security researchers. You'll innovate and build on top of our market-leading posture portfolio and be responsible for the "what's next." Your mission is to innovate on top of this foundation, build the intelligent "connective tissue" that provides unparalleled context, and architect the next-generation features that will keep us ahead of the market.

Your Impact

• Lead, and grow a team of talented security researchers focused on enhancing the cloud security posture of our customers.
• Act as a technical mentor and force multiplier for junior security researchers. You will actively share your deep industry experience, guide their research methodologies, and foster a learning environment that accelerates their professional development from talented juniors into autonomous experts.
• Champion the continuous evolution of our security logic. You will ensure our posture coverage keeps pace with the rapidly changing cloud landscape, systematically addressing gaps and refining our policies to address evolving threats.
• Leverage our advanced cross-product engines to synthesize isolated findings into a cohesive, prioritized story of risk for the customer.
• Stay ahead of the evolving cloud threat landscape, translating the latest research on cloud-native based attacks into resilient posture policies that effectively minimize the attack surface.
• Foster collaboration across engineering, product management, and go-to-market teams to deliver impactful security solutions.

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• 5+ years in security research with a focus on Cloud Security Posture. You bring a proven track record of either protecting complex organizational clouds or authoring scalable posture policies for a security platform.
• 2+ years in a leadership or management role, including mentoring researchers, managing roadmaps, and setting research strategy in a fast-paced environment.
• Deep expertise in cloud-native architecture across major providers (AWS, Azure, GCP). You possess a strong grasp of how cloud environments are architected, focusing on core components like Compute, Storage, Networking, and Identity, and the unique security challenges they present.
• Deep domain expertise, Comprehensive knowledge of the broader cloud-native security landscape (e.g. CSPM, DSPM, CIEM, AISPM). You deeply understand how these tools operate, their mechanics, and how they are applied to solve real-world security challenges.
• Proficient in hands-on coding and scripting (e.g., Python, Go) for automation and building POC scanners.
• Experience working with large-scale data pipelines and analytics (e.g., GCP BigQuery, Dataflow, Snowflake) to analyze vast amounts of cloud metadata.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex research findings (like data exposure paths) to both technical and business stakeholders.

Advantages

• Experience with AI/LLM Security. Familiarity with securing AI pipelines, understanding LLM vulnerabilities (e.g., prompt injection, data leakage), or experience with AISPM frameworks.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) mastery. Proven experience writing and auditing complex IaC templates (Terraform, CloudFormation).
• Graph database knowledge. Experience using graph databases (e.g., Neo4j) to model and query complex cloud asset relationships and attack paths.

Additional Information

The Team

Our research team is at the core of our products and connected directly to the mission of preventing cyberattacks. We are constantly innovating — challenging the way we, and the industry, think about cybersecurity. Our researchers don’t shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before.

We define the industry instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of a challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital environment.

#LI-HS4

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that take risks and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at  [email protected].

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.