District Systems Engineer

Palo Alto Networks•New York City, NY

1d•Remote

About The Position

The District Systems Engineer, Commercial, is a technical advisor on the sales team who provides pre-sales technical support to commercial sales teams. The role helps customers address security challenges by aligning Palo Alto Networks solutions with their needs, architecting security solutions, demonstrating the cybersecurity platform, and supporting successful deployment and adoption. The position focuses on driving technical wins, customer satisfaction, and business value across network security, security operations, and cloud security. This is a remote field sales position supporting customers in an assigned district, with travel of up to 50%. The engineer partners with sales and other internal and external teams, communicates with stakeholders ranging from technical practitioners to executive leaders, and develops broad expertise across the Palo Alto Networks portfolio. The role also involves mentoring inside Systems Engineers and developing toward portfolio-architect and senior security-leadership capabilities.

Requirements

At least 3 years of experience in pre-sales or sales engineering, or completion of the SC Academy.
Understanding of data networking, security architectures, and modern cloud computing environments.
Ability to influence and gain buy-in from key stakeholders in customer-facing or internal roles; prior pre-sales experience is ideal.
Experience creating and delivering technical presentations, workshops, or technical validation engagements.
Experience selling, designing, implementing, or managing one or more of the following: Network Security, SASE, SaaS, CNAPP, or SOC Transformation Technologies.
Proficiency in English.
Willingness to travel up to 50% within the assigned district.

Nice To Haves

Experience delivering cybersecurity solutions that address technical challenges and influence new business initiatives.
Experience in complex sales involving long sales processes, multiple buying centers, and multi-product solutions.
Prior experience in a pre-sales role.

Responsibilities

Partner with sales teams to meet and exceed sales quotas by building and implementing strategic technical account plans.
Position, demonstrate, and design security architectures across the Palo Alto Networks portfolio to meet customer business needs, including complex network security, security operations, and cloud environments.
Drive customer adoption of the Palo Alto Networks security platform to improve security, operational efficiency, and business flexibility.
Conduct technical discovery to understand customer requirements and align solutions to their needs.
Lead proof-of-concept engagements, technical workshops, and product demonstrations.
Collaborate with Professional Services, Customer Success, and Specialist teams to support seamless solution implementation and adoption.
Communicate complex security concepts to technical practitioners and executive stakeholders.
Coordinate Specialists, Channel Partners, and Customer Support resources around a unified customer-success strategy.
Promote end-to-end security solutions, including Palo Alto Networks and partner professional services.
Stay current on industry trends, competitors, and emerging security threats.
Invest in professional development and contribute to the District Systems Engineer community and industry events.
Develop broad technical knowledge across SOC, cloud, networking, and network security, with emphasis on SOC and cloud, and contribute to team cross-training and platform expertise.
Develop expertise across the Palo Alto Networks portfolio, from NGFW to SASE, SOC, cloud, and Unit 42 consulting services.
Build and maintain customer relationships and apply consulting skills and strategic thinking.
Understand the competitive landscape, particularly in the engineer’s area of specialty.
Design and architect large, complex environments in the engineer’s technical domain.
Develop business acumen with potential to grow toward CTO-, CIO-, or CISO-level leadership.
Travel up to 50% within the assigned district and support in-person customer meetings as required.
Serve as a role model and mentor for inside Systems Engineers.