Principal Architect, Network Security

Palo Alto Networks; München; Vor Ort; EUR 80.000 - 150.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

An established industry player is seeking a Principal Architect in Network Security to enhance sales productivity by delivering impactful security conversations and insights to key prospects in the DACH region. This role involves close collaboration with senior leadership and sales teams, positioning cybersecurity solutions that create significant business value. The ideal candidate will leverage extensive knowledge of network security architectures and demonstrate strong communication skills to build trusted relationships with executives. Join a dynamic team that values innovation and is committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity.

Leistungen

FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account

Mental health resources

Personalized learning opportunities

Flexible travel opportunities

Qualifikationen

• Extensive knowledge of network security architectures and trends.
• Experience in IT vendor pre-sales or network security deployment.

Aufgaben

• Lead cross-functional teams to ensure high-quality product delivery.
• Engage with senior leaders to transform security strategies.

Kenntnisse

Network Security

SASE

Zero Trust

Presentation Skills

Communication Skills

Problem Solving

German Language

English Language

Ausbildung

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Relevant Certifications (e.g., CISSP, CISM)

Tools

Palo Alto Networks Security Platform

Sales Tools

Jobbeschreibung

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 every day - 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 a Principal Architect, Network Security at Palo Alto Networks, you are responsible for improving the productivity of our sales teams through the creation and delivery of business-relevant security conversations to our key prospects and customers in the DACH region. As a thought leader, you will address cybersecurity related issues by leveraging the full Palo Alto Networks portfolio in a way that creates differentiated business value. As a trusted advisor, you will provide valuable insights and education on effective risk reduction, compliance, governance, and cost reduction through a prevention-first security approach based on the Palo Alto Networks security platform.

The Principal Architect’s value is measured in their ability to increase sales productivity by:

• Compelling communication to gain the trust and buy-in from Vice President and CXO contacts at our largest customers and prospects in the DACH region.
• Setting and driving an agenda with the customer or prospect, both directly and with sales teams, and within the market through various engagements, including client workshops and architectural assessments and designs
• Developing and maintaining a deep understanding of competing solutions and architectures and being able to position a Palo Alto Networks approach successfully
• Uncovering new technology applications and use cases and aiding in creating presentations, documents, and deliverables that will illustrate value to prospects and customers and the Palo Alto Networks sales teams
• Uncovering and documenting technological/business value gaps between the Palo Alto Networks Cortex platform and competitive offerings and communicating these to the broader Palo Alto Networks Sales organization
• Becoming a valued resource to Product Management to discover and understand current shortcomings and competitive insights in our product suite and requirements for future strategic market segments
• Playing a role on the EBC team in creating customer messaging that ties the Cortex Portfolio together with the entire Palo Alto Networks Portfolio

The role will require close coordination with the Senior Leadership, Sales, Palo Alto Networks’ CISO and Theater CISO’s, Sales Engineering leadership, Product Management, Marketing, Channel Partners, and the Consulting Engineering team. This is a senior technical customer-facing role, and the value produced must be evident and recurrent. Customers and Sales Teams will ask for you by name.

Your Impact

• In this director-level role, you will lead and direct cross-functional teams within Palo Alto Networks to ensure the highest quality of product and service delivery focused on customer business outcomes
• As a thought leader, you will address customers and prospects security operations challenges and work with them to develop a successful strategy for their organization to implement Palo Alto Networks Cortex technologies in a way that creates differentiated business value
• Engage and establish an advisory relationship with key Manager, Director, VP, and CXO contacts at strategic customers to transform their security strategy
• Engage directly with senior technical and business leaders at key prospects and customers as a security expert to penetrate whitespace accounts and expand Cortex install base through the Identification, qualification, and closure of opportunities
• Work with the sales teams on strategic opportunities for the development and delivery of differentiated proposals which clearly demonstrate the business and technical value of Cortex
• Provide summarized and business-relevant feedback into content, Product Management, Product Marketing, Competitive Marketing, and Field Marketing based on customer engagements to improve Palo Alto Networks effectiveness in communicating its value proposition to prospects and clients
• Engage in continuous self-improvement and learning to maintain technical leadership of relevant technologies (security, data center, public cloud, networking, endpoint, etc.)
• As a trusted advisor, you will provide valuable insights and education on effective risk reduction, compliance, governance, and cost reduction through a prevention-first security approach based on the Palo Alto Networks security platform
• Becoming a valued resource to Product Management to discover and understand current shortcomings and competitive insights in our product suite and requirements for future strategic market segments
• Develop and maintain ongoing executive-level relationships with our largest Strata customers to drive continued platform satisfaction and adoption
• Developing and maintaining an executive-level point of view on Cybersecurity trends with a deep understanding of security operations and the ability to successfully position a Palo Alto Networks approach

Your Experience

• Extensive knowledge of network security architectures, history, and trends
• Experience with network security, SASE, SSE, DLP & Zero Trust
• Demonstrable senior level experience in an IT vendor pre-sales role. We will also consider applicants that have network security deployment expertise in an end user environment
• Demonstrable experience in establishing credibility and strategic messaging with large enterprise customers
• Self-motivated attitude to do whatever is necessary to close deals
• Flexibility to travel 20-30% in the DACH region. Travel will also include internal meetings which could be in other international locations.
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and presentation skills
• Robust problem finding and solving skills, ability to analyze complex multivariate problems, and systematic approach to gain quick resolution, even under duress
• Fluent German and advanced English language skills

The Team

Our GTM team members work hand in hand with large organizations around the world to keep their digital environments protected. We educate, inspire, and empower our potential clients in their journey to security.

As part of our GTM team, you are empowered with unmatched systems and tools, constantly updated research and sales libraries, and a team built on joint success. You won’t find someone at Palo Alto Networks who isn’t committed to your success — everyone pitches in to assist when it comes to solutions selling, learning, and development. As a member of our Sales team, you are motivated by a solutions-focused sales environment and find fulfillment in working with clients to resolve incredibly complex cyber threats.

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.