Competitive Intelligence Analyst

Socket.dev; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Stock options

401(k)

Flexible time-off

Parental leave

Disability benefits

Job summary

Cato Networks is hiring a Product Marketing Manager – Competitive Intelligence to own our competitive landscape and translate complex tech into executive narratives. You will partner with Sales to unblock deals and develop battlecards, POV playbooks, and lab environments to validate vendor capabilities.

Join a fast-moving team that ties product, sales, and marketing together, and use data-driven insights to refine positioning and drive win rates.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in Product Marketing, CI, or sales engineering in security or networking.
• Proven field credibility with enterprise sales and executive conversations.
• Experience building lab environments to validate vendor capabilities.

Responsibilities

• CompetitiveAnalysis & Positioning: maintain POV on SASE, SSE, SD-WAN, and AI security.
• Sales Enablement & Deal Support: unblock deals, provide objection handling, battlecards.
• Competitive Labs & POV Playbooks: build labs and translate findings into playbooks.
• Executive Storytelling & Value Differentiation: craft high-level narratives for C-level buyers.
• Data-Driven Impact Tracking: define KPIs and monitor CI asset performance.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: align with Product, Global/Regional Marketing, and Sales VPs.

Skills

Product Marketing

Competitive Intelligence

Sales Enablement

Executive storytelling

Data-driven mindset

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Competitive Labs

POV Playbooks

Job description

Welcome to the future of cloud networking and security!

Cato Networks is the first company to converge enterprise networking and security into one centralized and global service that is delivered by cloud. It is led by networking and security pioneer Shlomo Kramer (Check Point, Imperva) and early investor (Palo Alto Networks, Exabeam, Trusteer and more). Cato’s unique technology inspired a brand-new product category, later named “SASE” by Gartner and a market expected to reach $28.5 billion by 2028. This is your opportunity to get on the rocket ship and join a company that is building a cutting-edge enterprise network and secure cloud platform, and is on a fast track to becoming the worldwide market leader – don’t miss it!

Position Overview

We are looking for a highly strategic, technically grounded, and field-aligned Product Marketing Manager – Competitive Intelligence to join our global Competitive Intelligence (CI) team.

In this role, you will be the ultimate expert on Cato’s competitive landscape. You will sit at the intersection of Product, Sales, and Marketing, translating complex technology features into sharp, executive-level narratives and battle-tested field enablement materials. You won't just track competitors; you will directly partner with sales teams to unblock active deals, counter competitor FUD, and articulate Cato’s differentiated value against the primary vendors in the SASE/SSE and AI Security space.

Key Responsibilities

• Competitive Analysis & Positioning: Maintain a deep, current Point-of-View (POV) on the evolution of SASE, SSE, SD-WAN, and AI security. Analyze competitor strategies, technology architectures, and market moves across key vendors (e.g., Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, Netskope, Fortinet).
• Sales Enablement & Deal Support: Partner hands-on with the field to unblock active deals and accelerate sales cycles. Provide real-time objection handling support, battlecards, executive briefing support, and win-loss teardowns.
• Competitive Labs & POV Playbooks: Build, configure, and maintain competitive lab environments to validate vendor capabilities and reproduce customer scenarios. Translate findings into actionable Competitive Playbooks that enable Sales Engineers to plan, execute, and win Proof-of-Value (POV) engagements.
• Executive Storytelling & Value Differentiation: Translate complex, granular features into compelling, high-level narratives that resonate with C-level buyers, sales leaders, and technical stakeholders.
• Data-Driven Impact Tracking: Define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of CI assets and field enablement. Use data-driven insights to refine positioning and prioritize focus areas.
• Cross-Functional & Global Collaboration: Work closely with Product Management, Global & Regional Product Marketing peers, and Regional Sales VPs to align global competitive strategy with local field execution.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Deep Domain Expertise: 5+ years of Product Marketing, Competitive Intelligence, or Sales Engineering experience within the Enterprise Security, Networking, SASE, or SSE domains.
• Hands-on Field Credibility: Proven track record of working directly with enterprise sales teams, supporting late-stage deal execution, handling tough objections, and engaging in customer-facing executive conversations.
• Hands-on SASE Lab Experience: Proven hands-on experience building, configuring, and operating lab environments across SASE, SSE, SD-WAN, networking, and security technologies.
• Technical & Market Acumen: Broad and deep understanding of vendor architecture across leading cybersecurity and networking players (PAN, Zscaler, Netskope, Fortinet, etc).
• Executive Storyteller: Superior written and verbal communication skills with a demonstrated ability to simplify complex technical architectures into crisp, differentiated value propositions.
• Data-Driven Mindset: Comfortable using analytics and quantitative feedback to validate competitive strategy and track impact on win rates.
• Hyper-Growth Mindset: High-energy, low-ego collaborative partner with a strong bias for action, adaptability, and ownership in a fast-paced environment.

Why Cato?

• Work with industry leaders in a category-defining company.
• Directly impact revenue growth by empowering our global sales force.
• Collaborative, fast-moving culture that rewards initiative and impact.

Cato operates from a high place of trust and transparency; we are happy to state the pay range for our open roles to best align with your needs. Exact compensation may vary based on skill set, experience, location, training, and certifications.

Cato provides a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits plan. Benefits for this role include health/vision/dental insurance, 401(k), stock options, Health Savings/Flexible Spending Accounts, flexible time-off, paid parental leave and disability benefits.

As an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status.

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