Securing the Cloud: How Rust is Powering Zscaler’s Next Evolution

Building a world-class engineering organization requires more than just cutting-edge technology. It also takes technical empathy, high autonomy, and a relentless focus on customer value. In this Q&A, we speak with Srinivas, an engineering leader behind Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), to uncover the philosophy driving his team. Discover how these core principles are shaping Zscaler's new converged platform and why Rust is the programming language powering this next major evolution.

"Your leadership has been instrumental in building out some of Zscaler’s most critical services. What core leadership principles guide your approach to building an engineering organization?"

I spent my first four years at Zscaler innovating, building, and scaling Zscaler Private Access (ZPA). ZPA is a mission-critical service providing secure access for employees to their crown jewel applications running in data centers, hyperscalers or third party SaaS services. Building and scaling the engineering team behind ZPA comes down to a few core principles: leading with intelligence and integrity, and fundamentally practicing what I call 'technical empathy.' As a leader, I've always believed that process is just as important as the outcome, but a process should never get in an engineer's way. It should make delivering customer value easier. I strive to set clear expectations upfront, and then I get out of the way. When you pair that structure with high autonomy, engineers feel empowered to solve challenging problems creatively. This approach allows us to stay laser-focused on what really matters: driving productivity, ensuring rock-solid service availability, and constantly upskilling our team. 

"That laser focus clearly paid off with ZPA. But in cloud security, innovation never stops, you have to continuously iterate. What is driving the next major evolution for your team?”

Zscaler has two flagship services–Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) and Zscaler Private Access (ZPA)--that serve millions of users. ZIA and ZPA enable our users to securely access the Internet or their crown jewel applications to perform their job. As customer usage patterns have evolved, so too have our services. This led us to reimagine what a converged platform would look like for the present and future of our innovation, taking into account our customers’ needs and the ever-changing technology landscape. I am privileged to be collaborating with a team of architects on defining the new platform.

"When architecting the foundation for this converged platform, you had to make some critical decisions about the tech stack. What drove the team's decision to build with Rust?"

The new platform consists of a data path to receive and process all incoming traffic to Zscaler, and a set of control plane services responsible for distributing necessary configuration and policies while orchestrating the dataplane. Security is paramount to any platform powering Zscaler; we chose Rust specifically for its memory safety attributes, which are critical for building a robust and secure foundation.

"As you continue to build your team and hire Rust professionals, how would you describe your team and the opportunity if they join your organization?"

We are looking for self-driven, motivated, and innovative engineers to come and join the mission of building the new platform. Here’s what that would look like:

• Building the Future on Rust: We're implementing the core data plane of Zscaler's new, converged platform in Rust. This isn't just a side project—it's the foundation for the next generation of services that will secure millions of users.
• Mission-Critical Security Focus: Our decision to use Rust is rooted in security. We're leveraging its inherent memory safety attributes to build a fundamentally robust and secure data path, ensuring the platform that receives all incoming traffic is uncompromised.
• Innovation & High Motivation: You'll be joining a group of very innovative, highly motivated Rust professionals who have already laid the groundwork for this new platform. This is a team that thrives on solving complex, large-scale problems.
• Impact and Scale: You’ll have the potential to make a significant impact in this role, working on services that secure employees' access to the Internet and their most critical crown jewel applications that are essential for millions of users worldwide.
• Focus on Growth and Excellence: We are focused on boosting productivity, ensuring world-class service availability, and constantly enhancing the skills and capabilities of every team member. We invest in people and process as much as technology, and provide ample resources to support your ongoing development.