Field CISO

Illumio

2d•$208,000 - $250,000

About The Position

The Field CISO, Zero Trust Segmentation is a newly created role on Illumio’s Global Solutions Engineering team. The role is intended for a current or former CISO, Deputy CISO, or senior security leader with firsthand experience running a security program, rather than a traditional pre-sales background. It combines executive advising and evangelism with hands-on technical architecture. The Field CISO serves as Illumio’s external executive voice on Zero Trust Segmentation and breach containment. The role engages CISOs and CTOs at strategic accounts, develops relationships with industry analysts, represents Illumio at events, and contributes to category positioning and go-to-market strategy. It also owns key technical pre-sales assets and practices—including use-case mapping, demo environments, POC/POV frameworks, and reference architectures—for the global Solutions Engineering organization. The role leads or supports complex enterprise opportunities and high-stakes proofs of concept, provides technical and executive escalation across regions, and develops enablement and training for global Solutions Engineers. It also gathers structured market and field feedback for Product Management and tracks the competitive landscape across microsegmentation, Zero Trust, and cloud detection and response. Travel of 30–50% is required.

Requirements

Prior experience as a CISO, Deputy CISO, or senior security executive (VP/Director of Information Security) is required.
At least 10 years of experience leading enterprise security programs.
Direct, hands-on exposure to network segmentation, Zero Trust architecture, incident response and breach containment, or cloud security.
Ability to communicate credibly with engineering and executive or board audiences, translating technical risk into business terms and vice versa.
Track record as an external-facing voice through conference speaking, analyst engagement, published thought leadership, or peer-community leadership.
Hands-on architecture and build capability, including the ability to personally build and demonstrate complex technical environments.
Experience engaging CISO- and CTO-level stakeholders on strategic, multi-stakeholder decisions, ideally as a former peer.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to move between technical detail and executive narrative.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or equivalent experience.
Willingness and ability to travel 30–50% for customer, analyst, and industry engagements.

Nice To Haves

Previous title of CISO, Deputy CISO, Field CISO, or VP/Director of Information Security at an enterprise or mid-market organization.
Direct operational experience running a segmentation, Zero Trust, or breach containment program.
Experience with microsegmentation, CNAPP, cloud security posture management, or hybrid cloud detection and response tools.
Existing relationships with analyst firms covering network security, Zero Trust, or security operations.
Experience integrating or developing go-to-market plans around a new or acquired product line.
Published thought leadership, such as blogs, whitepapers, podcasts, or conference talks, on breach containment, Zero Trust, or cyber resilience.
Familiarity with Illumio Segmentation, Illumio Insights, container/Kubernetes segmentation, OT/ICS environments, and hybrid cloud architectures.

Responsibilities

Serve as Illumio’s executive voice on Zero Trust Segmentation and breach containment at conferences, webinars, analyst briefings, and through published content.
Build and maintain relationships with Gartner, Forrester, and other leading analyst firms to influence how the category is defined and evaluated.
Engage CISO- and CTO-level stakeholders on strategic opportunities as a peer and trusted advisor, alongside regional Solutions Engineering leads and Account Executives.
Partner with Sales and go-to-market leadership on go-to-market and revenue acceleration strategy.
Work with Product Marketing and Product Management on positioning, messaging, and roadmap priorities using field and operator insights.
Own and evolve the Use Case Map, Demo Runbook, and reference architectures used by the global Solutions Engineering organization.
Design and build flagship demo environments and POC/POV frameworks, including integration patterns and success-criteria templates.
Partner with product engineering to translate roadmap capabilities into sellable, demoable solutions and drive pre-sales enablement to sell-ready status.
Maintain hands-on fluency with the Illumio platform, segmentation, hybrid cloud detection and response, and Zero Trust architecture.
Lead or co-lead complex strategic opportunities globally in partnership with AMS, EMEA, and APAC Solutions Engineering teams.
Architect and execute high-stakes POCs/POVs, including technical prerequisites, integration scoping, success criteria, and executive readouts.
Serve as the final technical and executive escalation point for deals across regions and ensure a consistent customer-facing narrative.
Design and deliver training curriculum and certification paths for the global Solutions Engineering team.
Develop battlecards, FAQs, and RFP response libraries and keep them current with the competitive landscape.
Mentor Solutions Engineering leads and engineers on segmentation, breach containment, positioning, and objection handling.
Provide structured field feedback to Product Management on roadmap priorities, feature gaps, and competitive intelligence.
Track and analyze competitors across microsegmentation, Zero Trust, and cloud detection and response, including new entrants and adjacent incumbents.