Zscaler is looking for a Senior Principal Software Engineer specializing in Rust development to join our Platform Convergence Team. You will architect and build a new platform from the ground up, designed to scale for hundreds of millions of users with high reliability and low latency. In this role, you will design and implement distributed system and core infrastructure components while collaborating closely with various stakeholders.
What You'll Do
- Design and build a low-latency, high-throughput data forwarding plane using Rust, leveraging its async/await model for efficient I/O
- Develop distributed, scalable systems with a focus on concurrency, fault tolerance, and messaging
- Implement and maintain gRPC-based APIs and services to integrate forwarding plane capabilities with control and orchestration layers
- Optimize system performance through profiling tools across kernel-space and user-space
- Engage in code reviews, system design discussions, technical documentation, and mentoring junior engineers
What We're Looking For
- 15+ years of software engineering experience
- Extensive experience coding with Rust, particularly in systems programming and async frameworks like Tokio or async-std
- Proven expertise in building resilient, observable, and horizontally scalable distributed systems
- Strong understanding of Linux fundamentals, including networking, namespaces, sockets, and kernel-user space interaction
- Proficiency in container-based environments, Git, CI/CD workflows, and performance instrumentation
Nice to Have
- Experience with systems languages like C/C++ or Go, particularly in performance-critical environments
- Familiarity with Linux networking stacks, kernel-space technologies such as eBPF or DPDK, and Kubernetes networking or service meshes
- Hands-on experience with gRPC, Protobufs, and L2–L4 networking protocols including TCP/IP, QUIC, or routing encapsulations
Technical Stack
- Languages: Rust
- Frameworks: Tokio, async-std, gRPC, Protobufs
- Systems: Linux
- Technologies: eBPF, DPDK, Kubernetes, TCP/IP, QUIC
Team & Environment
You will be part of the Platform Convergence Team, reporting to the Sr. Director of Software Engineering.
Benefits & Compensation
- Salary range: $206,500 — $295,000 USD
- Various health plans
- Time off plans for vacation and sick time
- Parental leave options
- Retirement options
- Education reimbursement
- In-office perks
Work Mode
This is a hybrid position located in San Jose, CA or Bellevue, WA.
Zscaler is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. 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 law.
