Principal Cyber Threat Intelligence Researcher (Unit 42)

Palo Alto Networks•California, United States

fulltime

Engineering

10+ years

About the role

Our Mission At Palo Alto Networks®, we’re united by a shared mission—to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you’re in the right place.

Who We Are In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us!

This role is remote, but distance is no barrier to impact. Our hybrid teams collaborate across geographies to solve big problems, stay close to our customers, and grow together. You will be part of a culture that values trust, accountability, and shared success where your work truly matters.

Job Summary The Team Unit 42 is the global threat intelligence team at Palo Alto Networks. We believe threat intelligence should be shared and available to all within the industry. We deliver high-quality, in-depth research on adversaries, malware families, and attack campaigns. Our analysts uncover and document adversary behaviors and then share playbooks that give insight into the various tools, techniques, and procedures threat actors execute to compromise organizations. If you’re looking for a career with access to the brightest minds in cybersecurity, you’ve found it.

We are seeking a Principal Cyber Threat Intelligence Researcher to join our Fusion Intelligence Team (FIT), part of the broader Unit 42 Threat Intelligence organization. FIT’s mission is to conduct accelerated threat intelligence collection and analysis, pivoting from open-source intelligence to internal data to contextualize and develop insights into emerging threat activity. You will collaborate with world-class researchers and engineers, ensuring high-caliber intelligence drives our research, consultant engagements, and product integrations.

Key Responsibilities

Integrate open-source intelligence (OSINT) into analytic workflows, leveraging multiple enrichment sources to build a complete cyber threat picture.
Author rapid tactical and strategic intelligence products for customers based on unique analytical findings.
Conduct independent research and accelerated analysis to enhance the depth and breadth of our collective threat intelligence knowledge.
Harness unique data holdings, including product telemetry and Incident Response (IR) data, to cluster threat activity, and produce and communicate valuable threat intelligence insights.
Proactively collaborate and exchange information with other research and product teams to build joint capabilities and accomplish shared objectives.
Continuously update threat actor, industry, region, and malware profiles based on ongoing analysis.
Integrate AI and machine learning solutions across the intelligence lifecycle to improve analytic workflows, reduce research toil, and accelerate report creation.

Qualifications

10-12 years of experience in cyber threat intelligence, threat hunting, or a combination of technical and strategic analysis.
Expert-level experience in Cyber Threat Intelligence, including actionable knowledge of adversary groups, TTPs, malware analysis, and hunting methodologies.
Expert-level ability to extract intelligence from technical data sources (e.g., malware, netflow, internet scan data).
Strong understanding of the cyber threat landscape with the ability to contextualize adversary advancements and new campaigns.
Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field or equivalent military experience.
Strong writing and presentation skills with the ability to communicate complex threat intelligence to diverse audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

Advanced degree (e.g., Master of Science) in a relevant field.
Experience with hypergraph modeling and clustering process-level details within the context of threat activity.
Proficiency in developing and maintaining scripts (e.g., Python) to streamline intelligence workflows.
Experience with prompt engineering and leveraging AI capabilities to support the development of intelligence products.
Familiarity with Vertex Synapse.

Compensation Disclosure The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/com-missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

$162,700.00 - $263,175.00/yr

Our Commitment We’re trailblazers that dream big, 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 accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com.

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.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.

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