Principal Site Reliability Engineer

About Zscaler

Zscaler accelerates digital transformation to ensure our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. As an AI-forward enterprise, we are constantly pushing the envelope, leveraging the world’s largest security data lake to power our cloud-native Zero Trust Exchange platform. This innovation protects our customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location.

Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We say, impact over activity. We seek innovators who actively use AI to amplify their impact and who thrive in an environment where we leverage intelligent systems to stay ahead of evolving threats. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate—we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession, collaboration, ownership, and accountability.

We value high-impact, high-accountability with a sense of urgency where you’re enabled to do your best work and embrace your potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges, and want to be part of the team that’s helping to secure the AI age, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler and help shape the future of cybersecurity.

Role

We are looking for a Principal Site Reliability Engineer to join our Infrastructure services and architecture team. This role is hybrid 3 days a week onsite in San Jose, CA, or can be remote reporting to the Senior Manager, Cloud Operations. As a lead engineer, you will leverage deep expertise in IaC/CaC, Linux virtualization, and physical hardware management to drive our infrastructure forward. You will oversee networking services and general software engineering to ensure our systems remain scalable, resilient, and high-performing.

What you’ll do (Role Expectations)

• Mentor junior engineers and lead high-impact infrastructure projects
• Support business operations by responding to alerts and triaging systems to restore mission-critical capabilities
• Ensure the reliability and performance of all customer-facing services
• Design, document, and build technical solutions that align with evolving organizational needs
• Support Agile processes to maintain high velocity and a collaborative environment

Who You Are (Success Profile)

• You possess deep expertise in Kubernetes management and deployment, ensuring containerized environments are optimized and secure.
• You are a champion for Infrastructure/Configuration as Code, maintaining a strict IaC/CaC mindset in every solution you build.
• You operate with a security-first focus, embedding protection and compliance into the foundation of the infrastructure.
• You bring a "go-getter" attitude, proactively identifying problem areas and proposing innovative solutions.
• You are highly proficient in CI/CD pipelines and believe that automated testing is non-negotiable for stable releases.

What We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)

• Expert-level proficiency with Kubernetes
• Deep professional experience with Terraform and Ansible
• Expert-level programming skills in Python or Go
• Hands-on experience with Enterprise Linux distributions such as Rocky, Red Hat, or Alma
• Proven experience using Git within a structured SDLC
• U.S. citizenship due to the nature of the customers assigned to this role

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Deep knowledge of Linux Hypervisors, including OpenStack, Proxmox, libvirt, or QEMU
• Technical experience working with FreeBSD
• Familiarity with Identity Access Management tools like HashiCorp Vault, LDAP, or OIDC

Salary Range

$192,500 - $275,000 USD

Benefits

• Various health plans
• Time off plans for vacation and sick time
• Parental leave options
• Retirement options
• Education reimbursement
• In-office perks, and more!

Equal Employment Opportunity

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.