Zscaler Innovation & Technology Culture

At Zscaler, our "AI Forward, People First" philosophy is about what AI can unlock in our people. We believe an "AI Innovator" isn't just someone with AI in their title; it's anyone who embraces AI curiosity to transform how they work. We're building a culture to empower our teams to see AI not just as a tool, but as a professional partner. 
 

Zscaler’s People Services team wrapped up their first-ever AI Hackathon, bringing together teams in India, EMEA, Asia, and the Americas to pause their daily work and answer one radical question: How can we use AI to disrupt our own work?

The result? Fifteen teams built working prototypes. From AI Parental Leave Planners to Compliance Auditors built by people with zero prior coding experience.

"I went from 'I have no idea what I'm doing' to 'Look at this masterpiece we created' in record time! It didn’t just make me proud, it made me feel genuinely unstoppable. I’m a builder now."

At Zscaler, we aren't just deploying AI tools to our teams. We’re trusting our teams to embrace AI to build the tools they need. 
 

Can you share an example of how you’re using AI in your day-to-day work and what problem it helps you solve?

In global business systems support, delivering enterprise-grade solutions hinges on cohesively sequenced and complex product roadmaps and the prescriptive product requirement documents behind them. To accelerate the PRD cycle, I built the “PRD Professor” Agent. It is derived from internal data sources such as Confluence, Google Drive and brand-guidelines. 

Rather than requiring me to manually draft documentation in a silo, this represents a true “Human + AI” collaboration. The AI agent serves as a co-pilot for co-creation. It handles the heavy lifting of data synthesis and rapid scenario simulation, while I provide the uniquely human elements: strategic intuition, stakeholder empathy and contextual judgment.

By compressing the friction between design and execution, I can bring multiple iterated- solutions to the table in a fraction of the time, reducing business cost, while driving faster value delivery for my customers.

How has your company supported you in experimenting with AI or building new AI-powered solutions?

Zscaler actively fosters an environment of co-elevations by providing business users like me with top-tier models and tools, allowing us to not only experiment with AI but also deploy safe, secure solutions that drive initiatives to real-time business objectives. Learning opportunities are ever present. We have vibrant communities across Slack and other platforms to connect with builders from all domains, cultivating a diverse and collaborative ecosystem. Additionally there have been several opportunities to participate in larger scale workshops, which are broadcast company-wide. This is a true reflection of being committed to each other. We actively build strong, collaborative relationships that ensure everyone is supported and empowered to succeed.

How has working with AI changed the way you think about your own career or future growth?

Working with AI has fundamentally enhanced my ownership and accountability, specifically by reducing the friction of the initial launch phases of new initiatives. Like many professionals, entering a new or highly specialized domain can trigger a sense of imposter syndrome or self-doubt due to a lack of exposure or expertise. While AI doesn’t completely eliminate these challenges, it significantly mitigates the intimidation factor associated with them.

AI acts as an objective sounding board, enabling me to identify errors much earlier and getting me to a high-quality MVP faster. These early experiments save substantial time and effort, ultimately resulting in higher-quality outcomes from the outset. Ultimately, using AI accelerates our “ways of working” by allowing me to execute with urgency, build trust through real impact and maintain a constant focus on the mission.