Manager, District Systems Engineering

Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; Texas; Hybrid; USD 233,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a District Systems Engineering Manager to lead and mentor the District Solutions Consulting team. You will guide customers on deployments, ensure value realization, and stay ahead of cyber threats with innovative technical solutions.

You will partner with Sales and Product teams to drive platformization and strategic initiatives across the district. As the technical leader for your territory, you will develop a winning technical approach, coach your team, and

Qualifications

• Experience as a pre-sales System Engineer Manager.
• Experience as a Senior System Engineer/Specialist.
• Industry knowledge of security product market trends and roadmap awareness.
• Knowledge of delivering comprehensive security solutions to Palo Alto Networks customers.
• Experience in selling, designing, implementing or managing Network Security, SASE, SaaS, CNAPP and/or SOC Transformation Technologies.
• Partnering with Customer Support functions to ensure successful implementation and adoption of sold solutions.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Quota driven attitude focused on client’s best solution by being a trusted advisor.
• Proficient in English.

Responsibilities

• Train, mentor, and review team members to keep them engaged.
• Support field District Systems Engineering team in complex evaluations, problem-solving and challenging customer environments.
• Lead and coach team on technical validation efforts for opportunities.
• Define, create and monitor individual development plans for your team.
• Work closely with Professional Services, Customer Success and Specialist teams to ensure overall customer implementation and adoption of solutions.
• Provide effective technical leadership in customer interactions and share security trends and standard methodologies.
• Drive Palo Alto Networks Platformization efforts within your accounts.
• Collaborate with Domain Specialist Manager to optimize resource use and align project needs.
• Act as escalation point to collaborate with pre-sales and post-sales teams for issues.
• Build and maintain relationships with key customers to solidify reference accounts.
• Present to customers as our expert from technician to CIO.
• Discuss competitor products and position ours as best alternative.
• Work with Product Management, Technical Marketing, and R&D to build requirements and product features for large customers and provide feedback.
• 50-75% travel within the region.
• Develop a technical strategy with sales counterparts to accelerate growth.

Skills

Pre-sales leadership

Senior system engineer

Security market knowledge

Security solutions delivery

Communication skills

English proficiency

Quota driven

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.

Job Summary

The District Systems Engineering Manager is the evolution of the traditional Sales Engineer Manager role, aligning how we lead teams to best serve our customers in understanding their environment, providing solution guidance and ensuring value realization in their investment with Palo Alto Networks.

As District Systems Engineering Manager, you are the technical leader for your District Solutions Consulting team. You will work closely with the District Sales Manager and, along with your team, build relationships with your customers with the goal of helping them detect and prevent advanced cyberattacks and breaches. Our customers need guidance on what applications to deploy from our platform. Your guidance, expertise, and mentorship of your team will keep them ahead of the latest cyberthreats and stay on the leading edge of prevention.

As the technical leader for your assigned territory, you will guide and develop your team to define innovative technical solutions that secure customers' key business imperatives and maximize the value of their investment with Palo Alto Networks. You will champion our industry leadership in on-premises, cloud, and security operations services, establishing Palo Alto Networks as the preferred cybersecurity partner for your customers. You will also nurture talent within your team and provide valuable feedback to the product management team on new feature requests and product improvements based on insights gained from your customer interaction. Your team will play a key role in defining technical solutions that secure a customer’s key business imperatives and ensuring value realization of their investment with Palo Alto Networks.

Your Impact

• Responsible for training, mentoring, and reviewing employees on your team, keeping them engaged and successful in their careers

• Support field District Systems Engineering team in complex evaluations, problem‑solving and challenging customer environments

• Leads and coaches team on successful technical validation efforts based on best practices to ensure technical win in assigned opportunities.

• Define, create and monitor individual development plans for your team

• Works closely with Professional Services, Customer Success and Specialist teams to ensure overall customer implementation and adoption of solutions.

• Provide effective technical leadership in customer interactions to include sharing security trends and standard methodologies employed by other customers to actively be part of the selling process

• Drive Palo Alto Networks Platformization efforts within your accounts.

• Work closely with the Domain Specialist Manager to ensure optimal use of resources and align the required resources to the projects you are handling

• Act as an escalation point to collaborate with pre‑sales and post‑sales teams for any issues that arise

• Build and maintain relationships with key customers to solidify reference accounts and to assist the account teams with defining plans to drive more business

• Present to customers as our expert in your area at all levels in the customer hierarchy from technician to CIO

• Discuss competitor products in the marketplace and positions ours as the best alternative

• Working with Product Management, Technical Marketing, and R&D to build requirements and product features for our large customers and provide feedback from customers

• 50-75% travel within the region

• Work with your sales counterparts (DSM) to develop a technical strategy that accelerates growth. Identify key verticals, markets, use cases, and solutions to focus on, and devise a comprehensive strategy and engagement model tailored to your region or district.

Qualifications

Your Experience

• Experience as a pre‑sales System Engineer Manager

• Experience as a Senior System Engineer/Specialist

• Industry knowledge of security product market trends and directional awareness of our roadmap and technology development efforts, knowledge of competitor offerings and products

• Knowledge of how to deliver comprehensive security solutions to Palo Alto Networks customer base

• Experience in selling, designing, implementing or managing one or more of the following solutions: Network Security, SASE, SaaS, CNAPP and/or SOC Transformation Technologies

• Partnering with Customer Support functions to ensure successful implementation and adoption of sold solutions

• Strong communication (written and verbal) and presentation skills

• Quota driven attitude focused on client’s best solution by being a trusted advisor

• Proficient in English

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 (https://benefits.paloaltonetworks.com/) .

$232,800.00 - $320,100.00/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.