Revolutionizing protection.

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks®, we’re united by a shared mission—to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you’re in the right place.

Who We Are

In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us!

We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes.

Job Summary

As the Director of Product Management (App Acceleration & Security), you will serve as the primary owner for the end-to-end strategy, roadmap, and commercial success of two foundational pillars: App Acceleration and App Security. This leadership role demands a unique combination of deep technical fluency in network security—specifically SASE and Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW)—and sharp business acumen. You will be responsible for ensuring our solutions are technically superior, defensible through intellectual property, and financially optimized to maintain market leadership. Beyond technical oversight, you will act as a 'multiplier' for the organization, driving platform convergence and fostering a culture of rigorous evaluation and strategic influence.

Key Responsibilities

• Define a multi-year vision for the App Acceleration and App Security business units, ensuring seamless integration into broader SASE frameworks.

• Direct the evolution of firewall capabilities, including WAF, NGFW, and Distributed Cloud Firewalls, to support modern distributed workloads.

• Establish and maintain a 'Competitive Moat' to ensure continuous technical superiority over both legacy and emerging competitors.

• Drive the unification of security policies and user interfaces following acquisitions to ensure the customer experience is intuitive and cohesive, rather than a reflection of internal organizational silos.

• Establish standards for AI model evaluations and coach individual contributors on perfecting these evals to ensure product quality and relevance.

• Drive the commercial health and P&L influence of product lines, specifically optimizing Blended Margins across hardware, software, and cloud services.

• Lead the scaling of product lines from early-stage development to significant revenue milestones, while simultaneously managing and expanding established portfolios.

• Collaborate with Engineering and Operations to manage COGS, ensuring high-performance security inspection remains cost-effective.

• Develop value-based pricing models that reflect the converged value of networking and security.

• Lead the IP strategy by identifying patent opportunities in areas like low-latency security processing and automated threat mitigation.

• Evaluate technical performance—including throughput, latency-under-load, and false-positive rates—against industry benchmarks.

• Champion a culture of 'asking inconvenient questions' to stress-test strategies and ensure product-market fit in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years in Product Management, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.

• Proven ability to build products from the ground up to significant revenue, as well as optimizing existing high-scale product lines.

• Deep understanding of SASE architecture, Next-Generation Firewalls, edge computing, WAF, and Bot Management.

• Hands-on experience writing and refining AI model evaluations.

• Demonstrated ability to 'influence the influencers' and drive alignment across large, complex organizations without direct authority.

• Proven track record of managing product financials, including gross margin analysis and unit economics.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master of Business Administration (MBA).

• Experience navigating the complexities of mergers and acquisitions, specifically in merging disparate policy interfaces into a single, unified platform experience.

• A 'bonus' track record of successfully persuading external stakeholders or partners to align with strategic goals, even in the absence of direct incentives or requirements.

• Demonstrated ability to identify market gaps in the SASE landscape, particularly regarding the convergence of SD-WAN, ZTNA, and Cloud Firewall capabilities.

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/com-missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

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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.

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.

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?: Yes