Execution & Alignment Leader

Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; Washington (District of Columbia); Remote; USD 154,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking an experienced executive in Execution Planning & Organizational Transformation to lead cross-functional, governance-focused initiatives across global teams. You will translate strategy into coordinated plans and ensure clear ownership, milestones, and accountability while partnering with Strategy, Finance, and Ops leaders.

You'll drive AI readiness, operating model stewardship, and executive communications, shaping high-level decisions without direct execution, and

Qualifications

• 10–15+ years in strategic leadership, enterprise program governance, or executive advisory roles within software or cybersecurity organizations
• 5+ years of Customer Delivery & Process Integration experience
• Proven success enabling and governing complex, cross-functional initiatives in post-sales or services environments
• Deep familiarity with SaaS business models and cloud-native security platforms, familiarity in industry leading data platforms is required
• Strong financial acumen with the ability to interpret and challenge P&L, utilization, and margin data

Responsibilities

• Translate high-level roadmaps into coordinated, cross-team execution plans with clear ownership and milestones
• Partner with Strategy to facilitate prioritization decisions and ensure sponsorship and tracking
• Lead AI readiness and methodology enablement across the organization
• Oversee change narratives, transformation plans, and milestone plans
• Define and monitor operating models and executive reporting standards
• Act as liaison between Finance and business units to align fiscal plans and assumptions
• Represent business interests in Steering Committees and governance discussions

Skills

Strategic leadership

Enterprise program governance

Executive advisory

Cross-functional initiatives

SaaS business models

Cloud-native security platforms

Financial acumen

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Information Systems

Job description

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!

This role is remote, but distance is no barrier to impact. Our hybrid teams collaborate across geographies to solve big problems, stay close to our customers, and grow together. You will be part of a culture that values trust, accountability, and shared success where your work truly matters.

Execution Planning & Organizational Transformation

• Vision-to-Action Orchestration - Translate high-level roadmaps from the Strategy Team into coordinated, cross-team execution plans, ensuring clarity of ownership, sequencing, dependencies, and success criteria—without directly executing the work.
• Strategic Prioritization & Governance - Partner closely with Strategy to facilitate prioritization decisions, arbitrate trade-offs, and ensure initiatives are appropriately sponsored, staffed, and tracked by accountable owners.
• AI Readiness & Methodology Enablement - Serve as the focal point for GTS-wide transformation from traditional service models to AI-augmented delivery methodologies by aligning stakeholders, validating readiness plans, and approving structural changes proposed by execution teams.
• Change Management Oversight - Develop and approve change narratives, transformation plans, and milestone plans while ensuring execution is carried out by the appropriate functional leaders.
• Operating Model Stewardship - Define, monitor, and report on internal operating models (e.g., COE, executive reporting, escalation frameworks, quarterly enablement programs, QBR, LRP), ensuring standards are followed and outcomes meet leadership expectations.

Financial Interlock & Performance Governance

• Fiscal Alignment Interface - Act as the liaison between Finance, and Business Units (“Speedboats”) to ensure fiscal plans, assumptions, and decisions are aligned—without directly managing budgets or transactions.
• Performance Visibility & Assurance - Ensure accurate, consistent global and theater-level reporting on utilization, bookings, revenue, margin, expenses, and headcount by validating inputs and approving outputs from functional owners.
• Resource Optimization Oversight - Coordinate with the Resource Management Office (RMO) and Enablement teams to ensure capabilities, skills, and project health decisions are made effectively, escalating risks and misalignment as needed.
• Reporting Modernization - Collaborate on specific initiatives to guide the evolution of performance reporting (predictive analytics, AI-driven forecasting), ensuring methodologies are sound and outputs are executive-ready.

Ecosystem & Partner Model Governance

• External Ecosystem Assessment - Facilitate assessments of external delivery capacity in partnership with Theater Domain Leaders, ensuring compliance, scalability, and adherence to execution standards—without directly managing vendors or partners.
• Operating Model Alignment - Represent business interests in close collaboration with GTS Partner Strategy and Resource Management Operations to ensure the subcontracting operating model evolves in step with changes in ecosystem and strategy.

Talent, Capability & Executive Communications

• Strategic Workforce Visibility - Track and validate high-impact hiring across theaters, ensuring alignment to capability gaps and strategic priorities (e.g., SOC Transformation Architects), without owning requisitions or hiring decisions.
• Executive & Leadership Communications - Produce and approve leadership-consumable narratives, including All Hands content, customer success highlights, and synthesized lessons learned.
• Organizational Synthesis - Aggregate weekly inputs from across the organization and distill them into concise, decision-ready executive briefings for senior leadership.

Governance, Advisory & Oversight

• Matrix Health & Interlock Management - Maintain the interlock matrix and monitor relationship health across teams, proactively surfacing risks, gaps, or breakdowns in accountability.
• Steering Committee Advisory Role - Act as a directional and strategic advisor on Steering Committees for large-scale initiatives, ensuring alignment across technical, operational, and business dimensions.
• Portfolio Oversight - Partner with the PMO to review progress, validate delivery health, and approve escalations, without owning day-to-day program execution.
• Strategic Steering & Advisory - Provide high-level guidance on Steering Committees for major initiatives, ensuring technical and operational efforts remain aligned with overarching business goals.
• Project Portfolio Governance - Collaborate with the PMO to oversee delivery health and validate project milestones; manage high-level escalations while maintaining a non-executional oversight role.
• M&A Integration Strategy - Advise on the successful integration of acquired entities into the Cortex portfolio, balancing internal operational efficiency with seamless customer delivery.

Qualifications

• 10–15+ years in strategic leadership, enterprise program governance, or executive advisory roles within software or cybersecurity organizations
• 5+ years of Customer Delivery & Process Integration experience
• Proven success enabling and governing complex, cross-functional initiatives in post-sales or services environments
• Deep familiarity with SaaS business models and cloud-native security platforms, familiarity in industry leading data platforms is required
• Strong financial acumen with the ability to interpret and challenge P&L, utilization, and margin data

Technical & Business Competencies

• Cybersecurity Literacy - Deep conceptual grasp of cloud-native transitions and security architecture (operational understanding rather than hands-on deployment).
• Services Ecosystem Expertise - Advanced understanding of the operational mechanics governing Customer Success and Professional Services.
• Executive-Level Analysis - Capability to audit data integrity, synthesize complex insights, and approve executive-ready conclusions.

Skills & Educational Background

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Information Systems
• Superior communication skills with the ability to craft compelling narratives for Board-level and executive audiences.
• Ability to navigate and influence a highly matrixed global organization without direct reporting authority.
• Adaptability to support global leadership cadences and governance across multiple time zones.

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.

$154,400.00 - $249,700.00/yr

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 [e-mail].

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? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.