Messi on Leading R&D and Embracing Mission-Driven Innovation | Palo Al

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Messi

Senior Director
Engineering

Career Advice | Israel | India

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Employee Spotlight: Messi Embraces Mission-Driven Leadership

Leading a global R&D team of more than 100 engineers across Israel and India, Messi, Senior Director, Engineering, embodies mission-driven leadership.

“For me, cybersecurity has always been about more than just technology,” explained Messi. “It's about being the 'good guys' and knowing that our work directly protects organizations from complex cyber threats. This gives me a real sense of purpose.”

Read on to learn more about Messi’s story.

Please tell us how your experiences led to your career in cybersecurity. What accomplishments are you most proud of during your career?

After I received my degree in Computer Science & Management, I spent seven impactful years with a military software unit, where I developed a deep appreciation for engineering and security. I joined CyberArk (now Idira) back in 2012. We were a team of about 150 members, and the experience gave me an incredible foundation to grow alongside the evolving threat landscape.

Prior to CyberArk joining Palo Alto Networks, I had the privilege and responsibility of serving as the Head of R&D Product Security. My proudest accomplishment was building an entire security community from the ground up. I created a structured career development framework and progression path, paving the way for security professionals to grow into Security Architects. Alongside our Security Champions program, which trained dozens of engineers, I had the honor of shaping many employees' career paths and helping them find their passion, all while dramatically elevating our security posture.

What is your favorite part of working at Palo Alto Networks?

In cybersecurity, context is key–especially with AI. Palo Alto Networks acts as a major force multiplier by unifying Network, SOC, and Identity security into one powerful 360° platform. This unified approach is more critical than ever today, as attack timelines have shrunk dramatically from days to just minutes. Only an integrated platform with deep context can provide immediate, real-time protection against these rapid threats. It’s a privilege to be part of a team that solves end-to-end security challenges for organizations worldwide and truly knows how to connect all the dots into decisive action.

What is it like leading your engineering team, and how is your unit driving innovation?

Leading a global R&D organization of 100+ talented engineers across sites in Israel and India is an incredible experience, primarily because of the people. They are deeply professional, AI-driven, and continuously push the boundaries of innovation with engineering excellence, remarkable energy, and seamless cross-border collaboration.

What fuels my passion and directly aligns with our mission to protect our digital way of life is the industry-defining impact we are making together in Cloud Security. Our team pioneered a groundbreaking approach to Zero Standing Access, dynamically granting and revoking end-user cloud permissions on-the-fly, strictly for the duration of use. By eliminating persistent privileges, we aren't just building software; we're setting the new gold standard for modern access control and shaping how the cybersecurity industry secures cloud environments.

What are you most excited about for the future?

With Idira, we provide a complete end-to-end solution across all identity types-human, non-human, and AI agents-delivering full governance and secure control. Having this E2E scope is a true force multiplier. I am very happy about our position today, as the AI era marks a major inflection point for our industry. With non-human identities and AI agents rapidly outnumbering humans, they create a critical new attack surface. Proactively mapping these entities, their risks, enforcing minimum privileges, detecting anomalies, and providing full behavioral visibility within Palo Alto Networks allows us to secure the future of enterprise AI right when it's needed most.

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