Senior Certification Manager

Palo Alto Networks • Washington, DC

4d • $170,000 - $200,000

About The Position

Palo Alto Networks has built a world-class product management organization and continues to expand it with top-notch members of the team. As a Senior member of the certifications team at Palo Alto Networks, you will play a critical role in driving the attainment and ongoing maintenance of certifications across our product portfolio. Certifications are essential to enabling our products to be sold into key global markets. In this role, you will own the technical execution of product certifications end-to-end, partnering closely with cross-functional teams while personally contributing core certification artifacts and content required for successful outcomes.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience supporting or leading technology-focused FedRAMP risk assessments, Continuous Monitoring, and remediation efforts
• Demonstrated ability to make risk based decisions and interpret security controls in complex, real work, environments
• Working knowledge of public cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, and/or Azure), including how cloud native architectures and services implement and enforce security controls
• Proven ownership of complex, cross functional initiatives, including planning, execution, and stakeholder communication
• Hands on authorship and long-term maintenance of SSPs and supporting certification documentation
• Ability to manage multiple, concurrent, initiatives in a complex, past paced, environments
• Demonstrated ability to drive outcomes across teams without direct reporting authority
• Hands on, self directed working style with a strong aptitude for understanding and working with complex technology products
• Experience working effectively in distributed environments with multiple teams operating across different priorities and time zones
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with engineers, business stakeholders, auditors, and leadership
• Proactive, curious, and transparent approach; assertive yet collaborative, comfortable taking ownership, asking hard questions, and driving work to completion with minimal supervision while embodying Palo Alto Networks values
• BS degree (or equivalent technical degree or equivalent military experience) required

Nice To Haves

• MS preferred
• CISA, CRISC, CISSP or other similar security certifications desired

Responsibilities

• Own and execute certification strategies in close partnership with product management, sales, engineering and other stakeholders ensuring certification outcomes are aligned with company priorities, product direction, and compliance changes.
• Drive FedRAMP Moderate, High, and IL5 assessment activities in partnership with engineering, security, and external assessors
• Apply NIST 800-53, FedRAMP, and DoD SRG requirements to define clear, actionable expectations and deliverables for internal teams
• Lead audit and ConMon execution, including evidence coordination, remediation planning and triage, and POAM lifecycle management
• Author and maintain the System Security Plan (SSP) and supporting artifacts as systems and processes change
• Apply deep understanding of complex security and cloud architecture to evaluate control implementation, identify gaps, and drive remediation with engineering teams
• Build deep technical fluency across the product portfolio to lead discussions with assessors, agencies, and PMO certification bodies, allowing internal subject matter experts to remain focused on delivery
• Communicate clearly and effectively across all levels of the organization, from hands on engineers to executive leadership, as well as external certification stakeholders
• Manage certification execution with a program management mindset by owning project plans, timelines, dependencies, and risks, and by providing clear status to stakeholders and leadership

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees