Endpoint Security Analyst

IMMDEDIATE Joiners preferred- This would a remote role as Primary working hours: approximately 8:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (India Time 6.30 pm 2.30 am) + On-call participation is required, primarily for significant incidents.

Purpose of the Role

As an Endpoint Security Analyst III within the IT Security team at Yum! Brands, you will play a key role in protecting our enterprise by engineering, administering, and continuously improving Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR and Cortex XSIAM. This hands-on security engineering and platform operations role is responsible for platform health, endpoint agent coverage, security configurations, integrations, upgrades, automation, and lifecycle activities across Yum! and our global Brands.

You will independently handle most platform engineering activities, troubleshoot technical issues involving multiple systems, support enterprise deployments and upgrades, improve platform processes and automation, and continuously strengthen the reliability and effectiveness of our Cortex environment. You will work closely with infrastructure, desktop engineering, cloud, application, security, global Brand, and technology partners to implement scalable security capabilities across a complex, global technology environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Engineer, administer, and optimize Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR and Cortex XSIAM, including platform configurations, endpoint policies, agent configurations, prevention capabilities, security profiles, exceptions, and integrations.
• Maintain platform and endpoint agent health and independently troubleshoot agent connectivity, failed installations and upgrades, policy enforcement, protection status, compatibility issues, and other platform-related problems.
• Engineer and support Cortex XDR agents across Windows, macOS, Linux, server, VDI, and cloud-hosted endpoint environments.
• Plan and execute enterprise Cortex agent deployments, upgrades, migrations, policy changes, and phased rollouts while validating platform health and minimizing business impact.
• Analyze recurring or complex platform and agent issues involving multiple technical factors and implement appropriate configuration, engineering, automation, or process improvements.
• Engineer and optimize Cortex endpoint security policies, platform configurations, exceptions, integrations, and preventative security capabilities.
• Evaluate, test, and validate platform updates, new capabilities, policy changes, and agent releases before enterprise deployment.
• Develop and improve PowerShell, Python, REST API integrations, scripts, and automation to increase the scalability and efficiency of platform administration, deployment, reporting, and operational processes.
• Develop and enhance reporting and metrics related to agent coverage, platform health, policy compliance, deployment progress, operational performance, and platform lifecycle.
• Troubleshoot complex interactions between Cortex technologies and operating systems, applications, VPN, VDI, infrastructure, endpoint-management technologies, and other enterprise services.
• Partner with infrastructure, desktop engineering, cloud, application, security, global Brand, and technology teams to implement Cortex capabilities and resolve complex platform and agent issues.
• Work directly with Palo Alto Networks and other technology partners to troubleshoot complex issues, validate product capabilities, coordinate upgrades, and drive technical issues toward resolution.
• Create and improve platform procedures, implementation plans, troubleshooting guidance, technical documentation, and operational runbooks.
• Support change-management processes and ensure platform changes are appropriately tested, documented, communicated, implemented, and validated.
• Identify and implement improvements to platform reliability, automation, configuration, monitoring, and operational processes, and participate in on-call and after-hours engineering support as required.

Minimum Requirements:

• BTECH 6-10 Years of relevant experince
• Strong hands-on experience administering or engineering enterprise endpoint protection or security platforms.
• Experience with Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR and/or Cortex XSIAM is strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems as they relate to agent deployment, operation, and troubleshooting.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot security agents, policies, operating-system compatibility issues, software conflicts, connectivity issues, and deployment failures involving multiple technical factors.
• Experience developing automation using PowerShell, Python, REST APIs, or similar technologies.
• Experience supporting security platforms across enterprise workstation, server, virtualized, VDI, and cloud-hosted environments.
• Experience independently supporting enterprise deployments, platform upgrades, migrations, testing, and change-management activities.
• Ability to analyze recurring technical issues and translate findings into scalable platform, configuration, automation, or process improvements.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to break complex technical problems into logical steps.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and technical documentation skills.
• Ability to work independently on most assignments while seeking appropriate direction for new or unusually complex work.
• Ability to share technical knowledge and serve as a resource to less experienced team members.
• Ability and willingness to participate in on-call and after-hours platform support when required.
• Relevant security or technology certifications such as Security+, Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, GIAC, or CISSP are a plus.