Director, Professional Services NetSec (Strategic West & Commercial)

Palo Alto Networks•Santa Clara, CA

1d•$230,000 - $268,000•Remote

About The Position

Your Career As the Director, Professional Services for our Western Strategic and Commercial segments , you will be the strategic leader driving the execution of our Network Security (NGFW) and SASE consulting business. You aren't just managing a team; you are architecting the operating model that allows our technical delivery to scale alongside our most dynamic commercial accounts. Leading a high-caliber team of management and delivery experts, you will act as the bridge between Sales, Product Engineering, and the customer to ensure our technology transforms into realized security value. Your Impact Set the strategic vision and direction for all post-sales technical service delivery in the area, ensuring consistent and high-quality execution for Palo Alto Networks’ NetSec Products. Act as the single point of accountability for technical services, interfacing with GCS, Sales, Product, Engineering, and Partner teams to ensure alignment and delivery of business outcomes. Serve as the Leadership Sponsor for strategic accounts, engaging with executive-level customer stakeholders (e.g., CIOs, CISOs) to provide value reviews and resolve high-stakes escalated issues. Build and develop a high-performing team of technical professionals through hiring the best talent in the industry, mentoring, coaching, and performance management in line with the defined capability requirements for the team. Drive and achieve the following business and operational objectives: Maintain consistently high utilization of PS consultants through optimal planning and backlog management. Reduce Time to Value (TTV) by accelerating deployment and adoption timelines. Contribute to Service Sales Growth by enabling scalable, value-driven technical offerings. Achieve global target service margin ratios through delivery efficiency and cost control. Build and sustain strong, strategic relationships with subcontractors and delivery partners. Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction (CSAT) through proactive support and continuous improvement. Drive continuous improvement across the delivery of Netsec Professional Services and Customer Success Engineering, through the use of Automation and AI to drive efficiency, quality, and scale. Standardize and continuously optimize the NetSec operating rhythm and delivery practices to improve service health. Represent defined areas at a global level, sharing customer insights, local challenges, and opportunities for regional impact. A significant portion of your impact is external: collaborating with the sales leadership team, product, portfolio, and support teams, where you will act as the Professional Services liaison to enable client success. You will build strong customer relationships and be the point of contact for successfully handling customer escalations to maintain high customer satisfaction.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in Professional Services, Customer Success, or Technical Support within a high-growth SaaS/Cloud environment, with 5+ years in a formal leadership role managing regional and/or matrixed teams.
Demonstrated success in managing performance against KPIs related to deployment, adoption, margin, utilization, and CSAT.
Strong foundational understanding of Internet security concepts and products, with a demonstrated knowledge of NGFW and SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) architecture and its components.
Demonstrated experience running a profitable Professional Services or Customer Success business , including achieving revenue/margin targets, managing backlog health, and optimizing project closure rates.
Skilled in key business systems, including: Experience with Professional Services Automation (PSA) tools (e.g., Clarizen, Certina, Kantata) for tracking metrics like utilization, time-off, and backlog.
Experience with Sales Management tools (e.g., Salesforce) for revenue forecasting and pipeline review.
Experience with Business Intelligence (BI) tools (e.g., Tableau) for reporting on key operational metrics.
Demonstrated ability to manage critical customer escalations effectively and ensure prompt resolution for high-profile clients.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical knowledge to non-technical individuals and leadership.
Undergraduate degree in a related field (CS, IS, EE, CE, IT, etc.) or commensurate experience.
Ability to travel up to 25%+ domestically to customer sites and internal business meetings.

Nice To Haves

Background in cybersecurity or enterprise IT preferred.
Relevant industry certifications such as CISSP and/or PMP are highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Set the strategic vision and direction for all post-sales technical service delivery in the area, ensuring consistent and high-quality execution for Palo Alto Networks’ NetSec Products.
Act as the single point of accountability for technical services, interfacing with GCS, Sales, Product, Engineering, and Partner teams to ensure alignment and delivery of business outcomes.
Serve as the Leadership Sponsor for strategic accounts, engaging with executive-level customer stakeholders (e.g., CIOs, CISOs) to provide value reviews and resolve high-stakes escalated issues.
Build and develop a high-performing team of technical professionals through hiring the best talent in the industry, mentoring, coaching, and performance management in line with the defined capability requirements for the team.
Maintain consistently high utilization of PS consultants through optimal planning and backlog management.
Reduce Time to Value (TTV) by accelerating deployment and adoption timelines.
Contribute to Service Sales Growth by enabling scalable, value-driven technical offerings.
Achieve global target service margin ratios through delivery efficiency and cost control.
Build and sustain strong, strategic relationships with subcontractors and delivery partners.
Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction (CSAT) through proactive support and continuous improvement.
Drive continuous improvement across the delivery of Netsec Professional Services and Customer Success Engineering, through the use of Automation and AI to drive efficiency, quality, and scale.
Standardize and continuously optimize the NetSec operating rhythm and delivery practices to improve service health.
Represent defined areas at a global level, sharing customer insights, local challenges, and opportunities for regional impact.
Collaborating with the sales leadership team, product, portfolio, and support teams, where you will act as the Professional Services liaison to enable client success.
Build strong customer relationships and be the point of contact for successfully handling customer escalations to maintain high customer satisfaction.