Director, Cloud and Cortex Product Strategy & Operations

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission: Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.

Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Your Career

As the Director, Cloud and Cortex Product Strategy & Operations you will be shaping the future of our security business. You are a seasoned strategist (ideally with a mix of significant strategy consulting and in-house experience) with hands-on product strategy & operations experience and depth in Enterprise Tech (cybersecurity preferred). The scope of this role spans conception of strategy all the way through execution. You will be accountable for shaping the strategy and delivering operations for the product business. Balancing big-picture thinking and C-suite level influencing skills with a nose-for-value and ‘roll up your sleeves’ mindset is critical. This role leads a disruptive team of strategy professionals (most are former MBB consultants) that are highly valued by the C-Suite and executives within Palo Alto Networks. This is a people manager role.

Your Impact

Product Strategy 

• Own and Lead the development of long term product strategies

• Track competitive product strategies 

• Build segment and market specific plans to drive product growth 

• Drive strategic x-functional projects based on c-suite priorities 

• Provide systematic support & analysis for priorities (e.g., competitive tear-downs, narrative re-write and enablement)

• Engage closely with Product Management and Product Marketing to identify opportunities and gaps in the business to increase awareness, propose solutions/choices and develop programmatic responses

• Track the market, collate customer feedback and  understand competitive movement, to influence product roadmap

• Maintain a view of M&A opportunities

Product Operations 

• Act as the connective tissue between product and GTM teams

• Drive execution and optimization on core product operations related topics like product telemetry, licensing, provisioning, enablement / activation, deployments etc.

• Drive rhythms around capturing voice-of-sales / customers and surfacing insights to the product teams to inform product development efforts

Your Experience 

• 15+ years of total experience in product development and strategy, including MBA from a top-10 b-school

• Significant experience in a top tier consulting firm (BCG, Bain, McKinsey- either current or in the past) and / or top enterprise tech companies

• Demonstrated product strategy & operations experience - developing and rolling out programs, driving x-functional initiatives with product and engineering teams

• Material Enterprise Tech experience with a deep understanding of Cybersecurity / SaaS business models and key levers to scale

• Superior analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on attention to detail, identify patterns, and process information quickly to deliver against tight deadlines

• Proven ability to engage with and influence CxOs in corporate environments

• Ability to build and nurture a team

• Extreme accountability mindset - focused outcomes and thinks like an ‘owner’

The Team

The Cloud and Cortex Product Strategy and Operations team works at the heart of Palo Alto Networks. The team tackles cross-functional strategic initiatives across all parts of our Cloud and Cortex organization and across all functions. We take on the most challenging and mission-critical initiatives to drive and support our industry-leading growth and overall trajectory. We work on projects that have C-Level sponsorship and are trusted partners to all our senior executives at Palo Alto Networks.

We are a meritocratic, flat, tight-knit team with a supportive, learning-oriented culture that enables our team members to thrive. The opportunity for further growth either within the strategy team or elsewhere in the business is encouraged, and you will be supported with professional development and training to achieve your goals and longer-term ambitions.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $218,600 - $285,600/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that take risks and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at  [email protected].

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.