Sr. Manager, Technical Partnerships

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

The Senior Manager will possess a broad business, IT architecture and SaaS and security experience. This role requires a person who understands the SaaS application ecosystem, enterprise architectures and has built and managed partnerships with critical SaaS application companies like ServiceNow, SAP, Salesforce, Workday. The person will have technical expertise and business acumen and can put pen to paper and work in a hands-on manner with product management, marketing, sales, legal and finance stakeholders within the company and with key partners. They have depth of technical expertise in SaaS applications and cybersecurity and also bring in business skills in creating joint technology and business value propositions with partners. They should have the ability to create use cases and value propositions that can activate routes to market like GSI’s,  CSP’s, VAR/Channel partners and direct sales.  They should display learning agility, ruthless prioritization, and an ability to dive deep into the details.

Your Impact

The Senior Manager would build strong relationships within all levels of our partners’ business and technical organization to influence PANW solutions adoption, working hand-in-hand with solution managers/architects. They will work with Product management in defining the partnership strategy in alignment with product strategy and execute and build partnerships with key SaaS applications, Generative AI and identity companies.

Technology Partnership Planning: 

• Create and drive strategic technology partnerships in alignment with product strategy and plans from RTMs , speedboats, and product teams with clear pathways to pipeline and revenue targets.

• Craft co-sell agreements and joint GTM motions with critical SaaS, generative AI and identity partners that will drive revenue growth while increasing the wallet share for the Palo Alto networks SASE/AI Access portfolio.

• Build use cases and joint value propositions and activate routes to market.

• Work with large GSI, CSP partners leveraging technology integration, OEM agreements, co-sell agreements in creating value propositions that deliver customer and partner value. 

• Showcase thought leadership by identifying and parsing industry trends and customer feedback to recommend, plan for, and address core market opportunities with new technology partnerships..

• Drive the definition, business development, asset creation, enablement, and contracts of technology partnerships..

• Provide management insights and understanding on the various new partnerships opportunities and ideal target segments

Technology Partnerships Development:

• Define repeatable solutions & use cases, understand technology ecosystem, craft compelling positioning and articulate “better together” with technology partners..

• Create Co sell , OEM motions with technology partners that align with their and Palo Alto RTM motions.

Technology Partnerships Go To Market and Sales Success:

• Collaborate with RTMs to seed and develop strategic opportunities based on technology partnerships..

• Enable sales/partners on the solutions messaging, content and other resources (lab/demos/POCs )

• Extended solutions support for high-touch/at-scale sales programs  partnering with RTMs to advance key strategic solution-based opportunities.

• Drive thought leadership by engaging partners

• Influence market adoption of joint solutions with technology partners.

Solution Content Development/Dissemination:

• Develop solution level sales playbooks in collaboration with solution architects

• Identify, plan and develop solution level training for partners 

• Work with marketing to formalize/size the content for internal and external consumption

• Work with marketing to distribute the content and engage partners on an ongoing basis

• Enable sales/partners working with marketing and enablement resources

Your Experience 

• Drive to design something new, innovative, and disruptive

• Strong background with a large SaaS player building security partnerships, or with a GSI working on enterprise architectures and value propositions with critical SaaS applications and security partners

• Experience in building partnerships with companies like ServiceNow, SAP,Workday, Salesforce, OpenAI with the ability to create joint value propositions and drive GTM

• Required knowledge of SASE  technology/products and industry trends

• Deep technical and business competence to provide oversight for solution offering 

• Anticipates future needs and proactively works to get ahead of potential issues

• Experience in Strategic partnerships/Corporate Development/Venture capital/technology alliances/SaaS applications or equivalent with a technical and business education

• Significant experience building and launching new partnerships joint GTM and co sell motions.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills 

• Demonstrable track record of success 

• Willingness to travel to meet with customers to gather insight as well as provide recommendations to make the products successful globally

• Experience collaborating with cross functional teams

• Ability to identify portfolio gaps and key growth areas for Palo Alto Networks

• Independently navigate the competitor landscape and create a build, buy, or partner strategy

• Demonstrated knowledge in Information Communication Technology (ICT) spanning across Product Development, Business Development, Sales, Delivery, and Support

• Understand the technology roadmaps from an ICT industry wide perspective

• Bring basic portfolio knowledge and technology experience in areas like Cybersecurity, Cloud and Networking Technologies

• Depth experience developing strategic partnerships; including finding companies privately held or publicly traded and prioritizing them based on market need and potential value to Palo Alto Networks

• Have in depth experience operationalizing a new product or service

• Understand NDA’s and different contractual instruments and terms

• Understand on a basic level, drafting business cases, detailing risks and mitigation strategies, calculating payback periods, NPV, and IRR analysis

• Drive work streams or help structure and frame problem statements with help from the strategy team and market intelligence and providing guidance and insights on partnerships/industry insights

• Be able to maintain and build relationships with large partners/suppliers while identifying potential joint solution areas and ensure that Palo Alto networks maintains a good dialog even in cases where no immediate alliances exist

• Support dispute resolutions by working with senior partners

To be successful in the role you must have

• Computer Science, Engineering or Business undergraduate degree preferred (or equivalent work experience).

• A technical and analytical mindset and be detail oriented.

• The ability to learn new technologies and craft business value propositions based on technology value propositions.

• MBA or Master's is a plus

• 8+ years of total work experience.

• Be hands-on and willing to put pen to paper

• Applied understanding of cybersecurity and high tech industry

• Previous involvement with CSP, Startup(s) and Corporate Ventures is valued

• Experience defining New Business Models

• Owner-Mindset and out-of-the-box problem solver skills

• Excellent presentation, public speaking, and communication skills

• Ability to enable remote teamwork and collaboration

• Ability to travel

The Team

The team is an elite group of hand-selected individuals driving our relationship with numerous strategic partners. This focused and experienced team works directly with our partner counterparts, as well as internally and externally to run our joint business plan. This role will be critical to ensuring we execute on time and on plan.

Channel development is an extension of the territory sales team, with the ultimate goal to train and enable our channel partners to become empowered in the use and sales of our solutions.

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 $162600 - $262900/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

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

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.