About this role.
This Principal Software Engineer role leads the architecture and delivery of AI/ML-powered capabilities for ExtraHop's Network Detection and Response platform. The engineer will build production software for deploying models that analyze network telemetry, while developing autonomous AI-agent and multi-agent workflows. The position requires deep Python and Go expertise, production ML systems experience, cybersecurity domain knowledge, and strong cloud-native engineering skills. It also carries broad technical leadership responsibilities, including cross-team standards, executive-level influence, product strategy input, and mentorship. The role is suited to a senior technical leader who can translate sophisticated threat-detection needs into reliable, scalable software.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
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4/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
5/5Salary analysis
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Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would separate ingestion, feature processing, inference, and alerting into independently scalable components. The design would include versioned models and features, low-latency inference paths, offline/online feature consistency checks, telemetry for latency and prediction quality, and safe rollback mechanisms. I would also define feedback loops so analyst dispositions and confirmed incidents can improve future model training.
I would start with a narrowly defined workflow, such as alert enrichment or evidence collection, and identify where automation can reduce analyst toil without increasing operational risk. I would establish bounded tool permissions, human approval gates for consequential actions, audit logs, evaluation datasets, and measurable quality thresholds. The agent would progress from recommendation mode to limited automation only after demonstrating reliable performance.
Encrypted traffic reduces payload visibility, so models must rely more heavily on metadata, flow behavior, timing, protocol characteristics, and entity relationships. High volume requires efficient feature extraction, sampling or aggregation strategies where appropriate, and careful latency and cost controls. I would also monitor for concept drift because network behavior changes as infrastructure, applications, and attacker techniques evolve.
I focus on clear architectural principles, reusable patterns, lightweight design reviews, and automated enforcement through tests, CI checks, templates, and observability standards. I involve senior engineers early, document decision rationale, and use office hours or targeted reviews for high-risk work. This creates shared ownership while reserving deep principal-level involvement for decisions with broad or irreversible impact.
I tailor mentorship to the engineer's level while encouraging ownership of meaningful technical problems. I use design discussions, code-review feedback, incident retrospectives, and explicit growth goals to strengthen both technical judgment and communication. For security and ML work, I emphasize threat modeling, data quality, production reliability, and the ability to explain tradeoffs to non-specialist stakeholders.
At ExtraHop, we’re on a mission to protect and empower the connected enterprise. We reveal what is happening in the very infrastructure that sustains businesses, lives, and communities, and ensure the integrity of networks, data, systems, and processes. Organizations rely on ExtraHop to provide visibility into the cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and network performance issues that evade their existing security and IT tools. With this insight, organizations can investigate smarter, stop threats faster, and keep operations running.
Our mission is fueled by a profound social and moral responsibility to be the best at what we do, ensuring a secure world where everyone can thrive. If this sounds like a place you’d like to spend the next chapter of your career, we’d love to hear from you.
Position Summary
ExtraHop is at the forefront of innovation in the cybersecurity space, delivering cutting-edge solutions to protect organizations against evolving threats. Our Network Detection and Response (NDR) products empower businesses to detect, respond to, and mitigate cyber risks in real time.
We seek a Principal Software Engineer to join our product development organization and serve as a technical anchor on our NDR platform. In this role, you will drive the architecture and execution of complex, high-impact engineering initiatives that define the future of our products. You will operate with significant autonomy, influence engineering direction across teams, and mentor engineers at multiple levels while delivering software that addresses the most sophisticated challenges in network security.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, write, and maintain robust, high-performance software to deploy AI/ML models that analyze network traffic for anomalous or malicious behaviors.
- Design and develop autonomous AI agent architectures and multi-agent workflows.
- Collaborate with data scientists, threat researchers, and cloud teams to build high-performance services, pipelines, and tooling that accelerate ML experimentation and production workflows.
- Drive engineering excellence across teams through code reviews, design reviews, and the establishment of standards, patterns, and best practices.
- Lead cross-functional technical initiatives and represent engineering in conversations with senior leadership and external stakeholders.
- Contribute to product strategy by bringing deep technical insight to roadmap discussions, build-vs-buy decisions, and competitive differentiation.
- Lead by example. Provide technical mentorship to software engineers on the team, fostering a culture of continuous learning, optimization, and rigorous engineering discipline.
Required Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 2 years in Principal, Lead, or Staff capacity shipping enterprise-grade software.
- Expert-level programming skills in Python and Go, with an emphasis on writing production-quality, well-tested, and modular code.
- Experience in machine learning, statistics, or a related quantitative discipline.
- Experience building or operating production AI/ML systems, including model lifecycle management, data/training pipelines, and monitoring.
- Expertise in applying machine learning or data science techniques to cybersecurity use cases such as anomaly detection, behavioral analysis, or threat classification.
- Advanced understanding of threat detection methodologies, intrusion prevention systems, and incident response workflows.
Preferred Qualifications
- A strong fundamental understanding of network telemetry and protocols.
- Prior experience working in the cybersecurity domain. Familiarity with threat actor techniques and common network attack vectors.
- Familiarity with machine learning applications in cybersecurity.
- Understanding of threat detection, intrusion prevention, and incident response strategies.
- Deep experience with cloud services on AWS or Azure.
- Deep experience with containerization and orchestration technologies including Docker and Kubernetes at production scale.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to influence technical and non-technical audiences at the executive level.
The salary range for this role is $175,000 – $198,000 + bonus + benefits
ABOUT EXTRAHOP
ExtraHop is reinventing Network Detection and Response (NDR) to offer enterprises unparalleled visibility, context, and control against emerging threats. The platform integrates NDR with Network Performance Management (NPM), Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and forensics, providing a single, comprehensive solution. By decrypting and analyzing complete packet-level data at wire speed and leveraging cloud-scale machine learning, ExtraHop empowers Security Operations Centers (SOCs) to detect, investigate, and remediate modern cyber risks in real time across their entire hybrid infrastructure, including data center, cloud, and SASE environments.
This comprehensive approach and market innovation have earned ExtraHop unique recognition as the only NDR vendor acknowledged as a leader by all major analyst firms, including the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Network Detection and Response™, the 2025 Forrester® Wave for Network Analysis and Visibility, the 2024 IDC® Marketscape for NDR, and the 2025 Gigamon® Radar Report for Network Detection and Response. Since 2007, ExtraHop has consistently helped organizations worldwide extract in-depth network telemetry and contextual insights, affirming its commitment to protecting and empowering the connected enterprise.
OUR VALUES
Our culture is rooted in our five Values. These set the expectations for how we work individually and collectively as a team.
Lead with Purpose: We are driven to deliver results that create a positive impact for our customers, partners, and colleagues.
Act with Integrity: We operate with transparency, authenticity, and always in the best interest of the company.
Find a Way: We are resourceful, tackle hard problems with a sense of urgency and ownership, and do what it takes to get the job done.
Innovate: We listen to customers, partners, and the market, and respectfully push boundaries and challenge the status quo.
Share Success: We run together, we win together. We value diverse perspectives, hold space for all voices, and achieve the best results as a team.
BENEFITS
Employees’ wellbeing is top of mind for the ExtraHop team. Employees and their families will have the option to participate in the following benefits:
- Health, Dental, and Vision Benefits
- Flexible PTO, Sick Time Prorated Based on Date of Hire, and All Federal Holidays (US Only) + 3 Days of Paid Volunteer Time
- Non-Commissioned Positions may be eligible to participate in the Annual Discretionary Bonus Plan
- FSA and Dependent Care Accounts + EAP, where applicable
- Educational Reimbursement
- 401k with Employer Match or Pension where applicable
- Pet Insurance (US Only)
- Parental Leave (US Only)
- Hybrid and Remote Work Model
Our people are our most important competitive advantage, leading the charge against cyber criminals. Join the fight today!
To learn more, visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn.
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