Principal DevOps Engineer - Federal

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 DevOps Engineer to join our team. This role is remote position, reporting to the VPE of Infrastructure. You will architect and manage the global cloud infrastructure for our Zero Trust Networking Services, owning the delivery pipeline and operational health of a massive-scale, multi-region distributed system. Bridging the gap between Network Engineering and Cloud Operations, you will orchestrate highly scalable, distributed control and data plane services in the public cloud. What you’ll do (Role Expectations)

• Design and implement a multi-region AWS architecture and lead the development of modular Terraform libraries to automate provisioning across diverse geographies
• Architect self-healing infrastructure using advanced cloud load balancing, auto-scaling patterns, and Multi-AZ database topologies to ensure high availability
• Modernize CI/CD pipelines and implement Blue/Green and Canary deployment strategies to ensure zero-downtime upgrades for a continuously running global network service
• Build comprehensive SRE dashboards and implement intelligent alerting frameworks to detect regional outages or capacity exhaustion before they impact customers
• Monitor cloud resource utilization and implement scaling policies that perfectly balance performance requirements with cost-efficiency

Who You Are (Success Profile)

• You thrive in ambiguity. You're comfortable building the path as you walk it. You thrive in a dynamic environment, seeing ambiguity not as a hindrance, but as the raw material to build something meaningful.
• You act like an owner. Your passion for the mission fuels your bias for action, and you operate with integrity because you genuinely care about the outcome. You adapt to what’s needed, navigating seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution.
• You are a problem-solver. You seek out challenges because you are energized by finding solutions, knowing that solving the hard problems delivers the biggest impact.
• You are customer-obsessed. You build deep empathy for the customer—both internal and external—and anchor your decisions in solving their real-world problems. You champion their needs from start to finish, knowing their success is our success.
• You operate with urgency. You understand that in a high-growth environment, speed and quality are not mutually exclusive. You have a relentless focus on execution and a bias for action, delivering high-impact results quickly to win for the customer and the team.

What We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)

• 12+ years of overall experience in Software Engineering, DevOps, or Site Reliability Engineering combined with a BS/MS in Computer Science or relevant field
• Deep mastery of AWS services and architecting AWS-managed SQL and NoSQL data stores, with a focus on designing scalable local and multi-region deployment strategies
• Advanced expertise in Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and expert proficiency in Python or Go for building automation tooling
• Strong knowledge of Linux/BSD internals, observability stacks (Prometheus, InfluxDB), and security compliance (PKI, IAM, DevSecOps)
• U.S. citizenship due to the nature of the customers assigned to this role

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience managing large-scale distributed systems or IoT-style connectivity platforms
• Background in Network Engineering or working with Data Plane forwarding technologies
• Experience with Chaos Engineering methodologies in a public cloud environment

#LI-Remote #LI-YC2 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 $182,000—$260,000 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. Apply To This Job