Principal Solutions Architect, SASE/ Zero Trust

Company Description

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.

We have the vision of a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. These aren’t easy goals to accomplish – but we’re not here for easy. We’re here for better. 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.

Disruption is at the core of our technology and on our way of work to meet the needs of our employees now and in the future through FLEXWORK, our approach to how we work. We’re changing the nature of work from benefits to learning, location to leadership, we’ve rethought and recreated every aspect of the employee experience at Palo Alto Networks. And because it FLEXes around each individual employee based on their individual choices, employees are empowered to push boundaries and help us all evolve, together.

Job Description

Your Career

As a Principal Solutions Architect at Palo Alto Networks, you are responsible for improving the productivity of our sales teams through the creation and delivery of business-relevant security conversations to our key prospects and customers.  As a thought leader, you will address IT-related issues by leveraging the full Palo Alto Networks portfolio in a way that creates differentiated business value. As a trusted advisor, you will provide valuable insights and education on effective risk reduction, compliance, governance, and cost reduction through a prevention first security approach based on the Palo Alto Networks security platform.        

The Principal Solutions Architect’s value is measured in their ability to increase sales productivity by:

• Play a key role on the EBC team in creating customer messaging that ties together the entire Palo Alto Networks Portfolio
• Compelling communication to gain the trust and buy-in from Vice President and CXO contacts at our largest customers and prospects
• Setting and driving an agenda with the customer or prospect, both directly and with sales teams, and within the market through various engagements, including client workshops and architectural assessments and designs.
• Developing and maintaining a deep understanding of competing solutions and architectures and being able to successfully position a Palo Alto Networks approach.
• Uncovering new technology applications and use cases and aiding in creating presentations, documents, and deliverables that will illustrate value to prospects and customers and the Palo Alto Networks sales teams.
• Uncovering and documenting technological/business value gaps between the Palo Alto Networks platform and competitive offerings and communicating these to the broader Palo Alto Networks Sales organization.
• Becoming a valued resource to Product Management to discover and understand current shortcomings and competitive insights in our product suite and requirements for future strategic market segments.
• The role will require close coordination with the EBC Team, Senior Leadership, Sales, Palo Alto Networks’ CISO and Theater CISO’s, Sales Engineering leadership, Product Management, Marketing, Channel Partners, and the Consulting Engineering team.  
• This is a senior technical customer-facing role, and the value produced must be evident and recurrent.  
• Customers and Sales Teams will ask for you by name.  

Responsibilities:

• Engage and establish an advisory relationship with key Manager, Director, VP, and CXO contacts at strategic customers to transform their security strategy.
• Educate prospects and customers on how network security is evolving, accelerated by a hybrid workforce and cloud and SaaS application adoption, and work with them to develop a successful strategy for their organization to implement a Palo Alto Networks solution.  
• Engage directly with senior technical and business leaders at key prospects and customers as a security expert to penetrate whitespace accounts and expand Palo Alto Networks’ install base through the Identification, qualification, and closure of opportunities.
• Work with the sales teams on strategic opportunities for the development and delivery of differentiated proposals which clearly demonstrate the business and technical value of the Palo Alto Networks.
• Provide summarized and business-relevant feedback into content, Product Management, Product Marketing, Competitive Marketing, and Field Marketing based on customer engagements to improve Palo Alto Networks effectiveness in communicating its value proposition to prospects and clients
• Engage in continuous self-improvement and learning to maintain technical leadership of relevant technologies (security, data center, public cloud, networking, endpoint, etc.)
• Work closely with the theater CISO, Architect and Business Value resources to ensure that you maintain a coordinated market approach.
   

Qualifications

Requirements:

• Self-motivated.
• "Whatever it takes" attitude and motivation to do whatever is necessary to close deals.
• Extensive knowledge of network and endpoint security architectures, history, and trends.
• Knowledge of ancillary security areas such as identity management, SIEM, public, and private cloud architectures.
• Demonstrable experience in establishing credibility and strategic messaging with large enterprise customers
• BSCS or equivalent and 10+ years of experience as an end customer and/or as a vendor
• Solid fundamental networking background.
• Expect to travel a minimum of 50%+ of the weeks in the fiscal year. This is a global role and will require travel both in theater and internationally. Travel will include customer and Palo Alto Networks location onsite meetings.
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and presentation skills, both internally and externally.
• Robust problem finding and solving skills, ability to analyze complex multivariate problems, and systematic approach to gain quick resolution, even under duress.
• Super organizational skills.

 Preferences:

• Experience working with channel partners and understanding a channel-centric go-to-market approach.
• Experience working with companies in the enterprise security space.
• End customer background to validate your perspective with customers.

Additional Information

The Team

Our GTM team members work hand in hand with large organizations around the world to keep their digital environments protected. We educate, inspire, and empower our potential clients in their journey to security.

As part of our GTM team, you are empowered with unmatched systems and tools, constantly updated research and sales libraries, and a team built on joint success. You won’t find someone at Palo Alto Networks who isn’t committed to your success — everyone pitches in to assist when it comes to solutions selling, learning, and development. As a member of our Sales team, you are motivated by a solutions-focused sales environment and find fulfillment in working with clients to resolve incredibly complex cyber threats.

Our Commitment

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

Palo Alto Networks is evolving and changing the nature of work to meet the needs of our employees now and in the future through FLEXWORK, our approach to how we work. From benefits to learning, location to leadership, we’ve rethought and recreated every aspect of the employee experience at Palo Alto Networks. And because it FLEXes around each individual employee based on their individual choices, employees are empowered to push boundaries and help us all evolve, 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 accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com.

"The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer, the starting salary (includes on-target earnings = base + on target incentives for sales roles) is expected to be between $200,000/yr to $250,000/yr. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here."

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.

Covid-19 Vaccination Information for Palo Alto Networks Jobs

Vaccine requirements and disclosure obligations vary by country.
Unless applicable law requires otherwise, you must be vaccinated for COVID or qualify for a reasonable accommodation if:
The job requires accessing a company worksite
The job requires in-person customer contact and the customer has implemented such requirements
You choose to access a Palo Alto Networks worksite
If you have questions about the vaccine requirements of this particular position based on your location or job requirements, please inquire with the recruiter.
 

Covid-19 Vaccination Information for Palo Alto Networks Jobs

• Vaccine requirements and disclosure obligations vary by country.
• Unless applicable law requires otherwise, you must be vaccinated for COVID or qualify for a reasonable accommodation if:
  • The job requires accessing a company worksite
  • The job requires in-person customer contact and the customer has implemented such requirements
  • You choose to access a Palo Alto Networks worksite
• If you have questions about the vaccine requirements of this particular position based on your location or job requirements, please inquire with the recruiter.