Head of WW Principal Architecture

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!

Your Career

As the WW Principal Architecture Leader at Palo Alto Networks, you will be responsible for the success of a global team of Principal Architects who engage with our largest and most strategic prospects and customers. You will develop, implement, and refine the engagement strategy to enable the team to collaborate with our clients in crafting architectural roadmaps to drive cyber transformation through our best-of-breed platforms, world-class threat intelligence, and expert services.

Your Impact

• Establishing, implementing, and constantly improving the Principal Architect engagement strategy, including client workshops, architectural assessments, designs, and consistent high-quality customer deliverables to impact our sales results significantly.

• Ensuring our Principal Architect team effectively influences our prospects and customers to embrace a Palo Alto Networks point of view to solve their complex security challenges.

• Fostering close alignment with the sales teams to facilitate the effective engagement with Palo Alto Networks' largest customers. 

• Providing leadership, strategy, and coaching to the Principal Architect team to ensure their ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable roadmaps for stakeholders.

• Leading through influence and collaboration with multiple stakeholders, including Sales, Technical Sales, Product Management, Engineering, GTM, Unit 42, and Senior Leadership to deliver successful outcomes.

• Engaging with executive leadership to refine and improve the strategy of the Principal Architect team and demonstrate the impact of their engagements.

• Identifying and mitigating technical risks through proactive problem-solving

• Maintaining a forward-looking perspective on emerging technologies and industry trends

Your Experience 

• BA/BS or equivalent experience is required, as well as 12+ years of experience in consulting, security architecture, or vendor. 

• 5+ years of experience leading senior level architects

• The ideal candidate has experience working in a top consulting firm (Deloitte, Accenture, KPMG etc.) with expertise in building and leading technical consulting programs, processes, and teams.

• Experience assessing customer environments and objectives against existing or newly created frameworks, identifying and presenting key findings and recommendations, and ensuring alignment with proposed and implemented solutions

• Knowledge of network, cloud, and endpoint security architectures, SIEM, and identity management is required.

• Demonstrable experience in establishing credibility and strategic messaging with large enterprise customers

• You should have a track record of consistently delivering excellent results, even in trying and changing environments.

• 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

• Superb operational and organizational skills

• Comfortable with sustained iteration, improvement, and change

• Extraordinarily self-motivated with a broad ability to lead and elevate colleagues, customers and partners. 

The Team

Our Global Shared Services members support our Sales account teams to assist in large organizations' migrations to more secure environments. Sales Enablement works to make sure that our sales relationships run smoothly, empowering the teams across the world.

As part of Global Shared Services organization, you affect time spent selling, win rates, and deal sizes. You support the Sales team by helping with what it needs to successfully engage and educate the buyer throughout the process. You are committed to your team’s success and enjoy pitching in to assist when it comes to solutions selling, learning, and development. It’s a true partnership, one built on creating the best cybersecurity solutions for each individual client.

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 $275,000-320500/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.