Principal Sales Engineer, SLED - East

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 Principal Sales Engineer to join our Public Sector team. This is a remote role in the East Coast, reporting to the Sales Engineering Manager in the SLED department. As a key technical driver in our SLED organization, you will partner directly with state and local government and educational entities to architect solutions, demonstrate value, and guide their Zero Trust transformation.

What you’ll do (Role Expectations)

• Present and demonstrate the Zscaler platform to prospects, customers, and partners to articulate value and drive technical alignment

• Oversee the technical sales process end to end to accelerate deals and ensure technical success

• Run Proof of Value engagements from start to finish to validate outcomes and secure technical buy-in

• Collaborate across internal Zscaler teams to ensure seamless execution and customer success

• Act as a trusted advisor, translating customer desired outcomes into technical recommendations and guiding their Zero Trust transformation

Who You Are (Success Profile)

• You thrive in ambiguity and feel comfortable building the path as you walk it, viewing dynamic environments as the raw material to create something meaningful.

• You act like an owner with a strong bias for action, operating with integrity and navigating seamlessly between strategic vision and hands-on execution.

• You are a continuous learner with a true growth mindset, actively seeking feedback to hone your skills, support your team, and deliver work with purpose.

• You are customer-obsessed, building deep empathy for user challenges and anchoring every technical recommendation in solving real-world problems.

• You are resilient and adaptable, viewing change as an opportunity and maintaining composure in high-pressure situations to guide partners through complexity.

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

• Experience in security operations, firewall or proxy operations, and networking

• Demonstrated ability and proactive desire to learn new technical concepts quickly

• US Citizenship required for SLED alignment

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Demonstrated ability to act as a Consultative AI Advisor, guiding customers through AI change management, including mapping manual business workflows to agentic AI systems and managing expectations around non-deterministic outputs

• Utilization of AI tools, coding skills, or technical project development using AI to drive operational efficiency and outcomes

• Strong technical background in enterprise security and modern networking architectures

• Industry certifications including CCIE, CCNP, JNCIP, PCNSA, CISSP, or CCSP

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