Principal Product Manager (Prisma SD-WAN/SASE)

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.
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!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Job Description

Your Career

As a Product Management Leader within the Prisma SD-WAN and Prisma SASE portfolios at Palo Alto Networks, a core imperative of your role is to champion and guarantee unparalleled product excellence. Your leadership will directly influence our customers' ability to realize their strategic technical and operational objectives through the deployment and utilization of our cutting-edge solutions. This necessitates a proactive and deeply engaged approach, where you will spearhead and actively participate within diverse cross-functional teams encompassing Product Management peers, Engineering counterparts, Technical Assistance Center (TAC) specialists, Customer Support engineers, and Solution Design architects.

A significant aspect of your responsibilities will involve rigorous and comprehensive research and analysis. This includes delving into the intricacies of network and security architectures, scrutinizing various deployment models, understanding the nuances of diverse customer use cases, and dissecting the functionalities and limitations of existing and potential product features. By strategically leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps), enhanced visibility capabilities, and sophisticated monitoring tools, you will be instrumental in gathering critical insights into product performance and customer experiences. This data-driven intelligence will enable you to proactively identify potential gaps in our offerings and translate these findings into tangible and impactful product innovations, overseeing their thorough and effective execution throughout the product development lifecycle. Embracing a data-driven philosophy, with a strong emphasis on the meticulous application of relevant metrics to guide strategic decision-making, is absolutely paramount to success in this role.

Your sphere of influence will extend beyond internal teams, as you will actively collaborate with fellow Product Management leaders to foster strong relationships and engage in meaningful dialogues with both our valued customers and strategic partners regarding all facets of product quality. While your involvement will span the entire product lifecycle – from the initial stages of conceptualization and detailed definition through the rigorous phases of development and strategic pricing considerations – your primary concentration will be centered on ensuring the highest levels of release quality and system stability. Furthermore, you will play a critical role in post-release management activities, including the development and communication of effective upgrade planning strategies, the thoughtful selection and prioritization of future product features, and the efficient execution of essential tactical initiatives. Your dedication to these key areas will be fundamental in maintaining and elevating the reputation and reliability of Prisma SD-WAN and Prisma SASE solutions within the market.

Your Impact

• In-depth Data Analysis: Perform comprehensive, data-driven analysis encompassing a wide spectrum of customer deployments, diverse use cases, and intricate network topologies spanning small to large enterprise environments. This includes identifying key trends, patterns, and insights to inform product decisions and strategies.

• Champion Product Excellence: Drive and meticulously maintain exceptionally high standards for product quality, ensuring the long-term stability and unwavering reliability of both Prisma SD-WAN and the broader Prisma SASE platform. This involves proactive identification and mitigation of potential issues.

• Strategic Product Leadership: Define a clear and compelling product strategy aligned with market needs and technological advancements. Oversee the entire execution lifecycle, from initial concept to final delivery, and guarantee successful customer outcomes across all stages, including quoting, purchasing, activation, onboarding, configuration, ongoing visibility, proactive monitoring, and renewal.

• AI-Powered Innovation: Actively leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to drive significant innovation across WAN and LAN networking domains, as well as cloud-based services, throughout every phase of the product lifecycle, from initial design to continuous improvement and optimization.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Foster and maintain strong, effective collaborative relationships with engineering teams to guide development, Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for efficient support, customer support organizations for seamless issue resolution, and sales teams to enable successful customer acquisition and expansion.

• Proactive Test Strategy Assurance: Rigorously ensure the development and meticulous review of comprehensive test strategies specifically tailored for diverse SD-WAN deployment scenarios. This proactive approach is critical to guaranteeing consistently positive post-sales experiences and achieving desired customer outcomes.

• PoC/PoV Oversight and Enhancement: Critically review Proof of Concept (PoC) and Proof of Value (PoV) plans, providing constructive feedback and guidance to ensure these engagements effectively highlight the key and differentiating capabilities of the products, demonstrating tangible business value to prospective customers.

• Strategic Customer Engagement: Actively engage with customers at various levels, cultivating strong and lasting relationships through impactful executive briefings, passionate product evangelism initiatives, and thorough requirements gathering sessions to deeply understand their evolving needs and challenges.

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• Education: BS/MS in Computer Science or other engineering/technical field preferred.

• Professional Background: Minimum 10 years of product management or technical experience in networking and cloud technologies is essential.

• Technical Expertise:

  • Strong understanding of SD-WAN, Switching, Wireless, Distributed networks, Telecom networks, Cloud and Multi-cloud environments.

  • Proficiency in L3 and L2 protocols including OSPF, BGP, Multicast, LACP, BFD, LLDP, ECMP, VLAN, STP, EVPN, and VXLAN.

  • Solid knowledge of networking architectures: single and multi-data center, spine-leaf, private and public cloud, and virtualization technologies.

  • Familiarity with high availability and redundancy concepts, including HA architectures and disaster recovery planning.

• Product Lifecycle & Innovation:

  • Strong desire to own the entire product lifecycle.

  • A drive to create novel and disruptive solutions leveraging advanced AI.

  • Hands-on approach with a keen interest in emerging technologies.

• Communication & Interpersonal Skills:

  • Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.

  • Strong presentation skills.

  • Effective interpersonal skills and a collaborative team spirit.

• Achievements: Demonstrable history of successful accomplishments in customer engagements, delivering product quality outcomes.

Additional Information

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 $166,000 - $268,500/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  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