Staff Threat Researcher

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 Staff Threat Researcher to join our team. This is a Hybrid role, reporting to the leader in the Threat Detection Group in the ThreatLabz department. The Staff Threat Researcher will be primarily responsible for performing static and dynamic malware analysis, developing protections, and conducting reputation analysis on extracted IOCs. This role will also design threat research automation workflows and create testing and training datasets for ML models to ensure millions of global users on the Zscaler platform remain protected. What you’ll do (Role Expectations) * Conduct static and dynamic malware analysis to mitigate emerging threats, C2 frameworks, and malicious AI agents * Develop complex automation tools, prototypes, and detection signatures to integrate research findings into Zscaler products * Track the global threat landscape, identify attacker TTPs, and perform reputation analysis on extracted IOCs * Validate AI/ML model outputs and provide feedback to the engineering teams to enhance threat model efficacy * Contribute to the global security community by publishing in-depth threat analysis blogs and research papers 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. You operate with integrity because you genuinely care about the outcome. True ownership involves leveraging dynamic range: the ability to navigate seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution. * You are a problem-solver. You love running towards the challenges because you are laser-focused on finding the solution, knowing that solving the hard problems delivers the biggest impact. * You are a high-trust collaborator. You are ambitious for the team, not just yourself. You embrace our challenge culture by giving and receiving ongoing feedback—knowing that candor delivered with clarity and respect is the truest form of teamwork and the fastest way to earn trust. * You are a learner. You have a true growth mindset and are obsessed with your own development, actively seeking feedback to become a better partner and a stronger teammate. You love what you do and you do it with purpose. What We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications) * Demonstrated curiosity and active exploration of AI tools, with a proven history of integrating new technologies to enhance daily workflows and augment problem-solving * Four to seven years of experience in the Cyber Security Research Domain with strong proficiency in reverse engineering and debugging tools such as IDA Pro or x64dbg * Deep understanding of Windows internals, web application security, malware categories, and network protocols across TCP/IP and OWASP frameworks * Proven experience creating detection signatures using IDS/IPS and YARA to track the threat landscape and identify attacker TTPs * Strong programming proficiency in Python, Shell, Perl, or Ruby to build and optimize custom automation tools What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications) * Experience designing and implementing AI-powered automation solutions or prompt engineering workflows to scale threat research capabilities and analyze malicious AI agents * Possession of AI, prompt engineering, or agenting AI workflow related certifications and familiarity with the MCP protocol * B.E/M.E/B.Tech/M.Tech in Computer Science or Information Technology, or advanced cybersecurity-specific certifications #LI-Hybrid #LI-PM5 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.

STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER - AGENT QUALITY P-1215 At Databricks, we are obsessed with enabling data teams to solve the world’s toughest problems, from security threat detection to cancer drug development. We do this by building and running the world’s best data and AI platform so our customers can focus on the high-value challenges that are central to their own missions. The Databricks AI Research organization is pushing the frontier of next-generation enterprise AI. We believe a company's data is its greatest competitive advantage, and we're building the models and agents that unlock it. Our work spans the full stack, from model training to advanced multi-agent systems.  As a Staff Software Engineer - Agent Quality, you will be a founding member of a new team focused on evaluating and continuously improving Databricks' AI Agents. You will design and scale the infrastructure, tooling, and developer workflows that let researchers and engineers evaluate agents rigorously — driving a flywheel where evaluation results feed directly back into agent improvement across the full lifecycle, from development and training to production. THE IMPACT YOU WILL HAVE * Stand up the foundational evaluation infrastructure for Genie Agents, enabling rigorous benchmarking, regression detection, and quality measurement across research and product teams. * Build the flywheel that connects evaluation results back into agent improvement — closing the loop between production signals, training, and iterative development. * Shape the long-term technical direction for agent quality infrastructure, with real influence over how Databricks measures and improves its first-party agents and agent development platform. * Help shape the long-term technical direction for agent quality infrastructure as Databricks expands its first-party agents and agent development platform. WHAT WE LOOK FOR * 6+ years industry experience building software systems * Strong Python programming skills, with experience building production or research infrastructure * Experience building or operating distributed systems, data pipelines, or large-scale infrastructure with a focus on reliability, correctness, and operational maturity * Ability to design pragmatic but rigorous systems that produce trustworthy, reproducible signals for complex applications * Comfort working across ambiguous research and product boundaries, and partnering with both researchers and engineers to turn ideas into robust internal platforms * A high bar for technical quality, strong ownership, and the ability to influence roadmap and execution across multiple teams NICE TO HAVE * Experience with devtools, CI/CD platforms, testing frameworks, observability tooling, or benchmarking infrastructure * Familiarity with how LLM or agent quality is measured — whether through evals, experimentation platforms, or production monitoring   Pay Range Transparency Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles.  Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.   Local Pay Range $190,000—$270,000 USD About Databricks Databricks is the data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Comcast, Condé Nast, Grammarly, and over 50% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to unify and democratize data, analytics and AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow. To learn more, follow Databricks on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Benefits At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here. Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics. Compliance If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.