Netskope: Senior Staff / Principal Machine Learning Scientist, AI Inference & Optimization — Santa Clara, California, United States

About Netskope

Netskope develops security and networking technology for cloud, data and AI environments. Its employer introduction identifies the Netskope One platform, a zero-trust engine and the NewEdge network as parts of that offering. The business describes giving organisations visibility and control while maintaining the performance of access to applications and information. This connects cybersecurity with networking: the products address both how digital resources are reached and how their use is controlled and protected.

The position and its setting

Netskope lists Senior Staff / Principal Machine Learning Scientist, AI Inference & Optimization in Santa Clara, California, United States, under reference 8063869. The details below separate the work described by the employer from essential conditions, preferred experience and practical preparation advice.

• Department: AI R&D
• Employer listing date: 14 July 2026

Responsibilities and work described

• As a Senior Staff Machine Learning Scientist, you own the inference and optimization layer that makes AI in agentic workflows fast, efficient, and production-grade
• Building: and optimize the model inference path: quantization, KV-cache optimization, batching, and latency/memory/throughput tuning on constrained, commodity hardware
• Fine-tune and evaluate models for bounded tasks; build eval harnesses that gate a capability to release on real accuracy, latency, and security relevance
• Design: and grow the task execution runtime (bounded sub-agents), pushing toward task generation and context compaction
• Drive hardware acceleration / sparsity and support for larger models as the platform matures
• Partner with the systems and backend engineers to ship capabilities end-to-end and iterate on real production signals

Essential requirements and candidate background

• 10+ years of overall industry experience, with 4+ years hands-on in ML/AI (model development, fine-tuning, and inference optimization)
• Hands-on with fine-tuning (e.g. LoRA/QLoRA), quantization (GGUF/AWQ/GPTQ), and inference runtimes (vLLM/SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, ONNX Runtime, llama.cpp, or MLX/CoreML)
• On-device or edge inference experience is a plus
• Grasp of transformer internals and the levers that move real inference performance and cost: KV cache, attention, batching, memory footprint
• Fluency: agentic coding systems and genuine curiosity about agent harnesses like Claude Code, Pi, and Codex, so you should already be building with them, or itching to
• Clear communication: able to distill a model or infra bottleneck into an actionable concept for cross-functional teammates

Preferred experience and additional strengths

• Python; comfort reaching into C++ for low-level interop is a plus

Location, schedule and contract conditions

For this overseas or regional listing, confirm work authorisation and any location restrictions with the employer. The location does not establish visa sponsorship or permission to work remotely from India.

• At Netskope, salary is one component of our competitive total rewards package
• The salary range for this position is as listed below
• This is a national range
• For purposes of complying with applicable laws, the range applies to candidates in California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Washington, and other states
• The successful candidate’s starting pay will also be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, location, and market conditions
• For all sales roles, the posted salary range is the On Target Earnings (OTE) range for the role, which is the sum of base salary and target commission amount at 100% goal achievement
• In addition to salary, candidates may be eligible for other forms of compensation such as participation in a bonus plan (for non-sales roles) and a stock award program
• Candidates may also be eligible for a comprehensive health plan and other benefits that can be reviewed at Netskope Benefits site
• Salary Range
• Compensation:: $124,500 — $272,000 USD
• Netskope is committed to implementing equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment
• Netskope respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information you share with us, please refer to Netskope's Privacy Policy for more details
• The application window for this position is expected to close within 50 days
• You may apply by filling out the below information, or visiting our Netskope Careers site

Benefits mentioned by the employer

• High-impact ownership
• You own the model layer of a net-new product that changes the performance and economics of agentic AI
• Cutting-edge, unusual stack
• The hard, interesting inference problems live here: quantization, KV-cache and memory management, sparsity, fine-tuning, and hardware acceleration under real-world resource constraints
• Real scale to build against
• Netskope’s customer footprint gives you production signals most teams never see, so you deploy, validate, and iterate fast

Conditions requiring the complete notice

Some passages contain complex or combined conditions that have not been reduced to short eligibility statements here. Read the complete linked notice for those passages, including any alternatives, exceptions or restrictions. The concise facts above should not be treated as the full wording of every condition.

Pay and application dates

A verified salary figure is not established in this article. An online estimate for another Senior Staff / Principal Machine Learning Scientist, AI Inference & Optimization vacancy is not an offer for reference 8063869; use the employer’s own pay disclosure and recruitment communication.

A closing date is not confirmed in this article. Check the current employer page before submitting: an undated posting can change or be withdrawn.

How to apply to Netskope

Applications follow the official employer page linked below.

Open the official Netskope posting below and match the title and reference 8063869.

Compare your qualifications and experience with the essential conditions for the Santa Clara, California, United States position, then read the preferred criteria separately.

Prepare an accurate CV and the supporting items requested in that employer’s application. Provide only information and documents you are authorised to share.

Use the employer’s application option, complete the required fields and review the submission. Retain the acknowledgement when one is provided. Job Alerts World does not receive the application.

Practical preparation: Python

Python work is easier to assess through a concrete example than a list of libraries. Explain the problem, the input data, the parts you implemented and how you checked the output. Include a repository or a short technical note when you can share it.

Relevant skills

• Python
• C++
• AI/ML
• LLMs
• machine learning
• AI
• electrical engineering
• sales
• communication