Principal Solutions Architect - Network Security (France)

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.

Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.  

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few! 

Job Description

Your Career

As a Principal Solutions Architect at Palo Alto Networks you are responsible for the technical strategy throughout the life of our most strategic partnerships. You function as a technical advisor and advocate, thought leader, and executive partner to our prospects, customers, and sales teams.

As a Principal Solutions Architect you pick up where our executive relationships from our CEO, CPO and CRO leave off and balance business and technical acumen to function as the executive partner for technical strategy and execution.

As the technical strategy owner you are responsible for aligning our solutions to prospect and customers problems, priorities, environment, challenges, politics, and architecture, You provide guidance on how to architect Palo Alto Networks Zero Trust, Network Security and SASE solutions into customer environments and articulate the Palo Alto Networks point of view for solving complex security challenges as the benchmark for success.

As a technical advisor and  advocate, you put yourself in the seat of the customer to see the world through their eyes then apply your expertise and creativity to help them realize value through our solutions. You align all technical resources to execute the needed strategy and serve as the executive partner to sales leadership.  You provide valuable insights and education on effective risk reduction, compliance, governance, and cost reduction through a prevention first security approach based on the Palo Alto Networks security platform.  

As a thought leader you challenge the status quo and use your subject matter expertise and creativity to think outside the box to architect elegant, effective, and simple solutions to complex problems. You address IT-related issues by leveraging the full Palo Alto Networks portfolio in a way that creates differentiated business value. 

As an executive partner you are responsible for improving the productivity of our sales teams through the creation and delivery of business-relevant security conversations for and  our key prospects and customers. You also build trust  with our champions and decision makers to influence their buying criteria and work alongside our account teams to uplevel our selling approach and execution. 

Your Impact

The Principal Solutions Architect’s value is measured in their ability to increase sales productivity by:

• Play a key role on the EBC (Executive Briefing Centre) team in creating customer messaging that ties together the entire Palo Alto Networks Portfolio
• Uncovering opportunities and conveying the differentiation of Palo Alto Networks Zero Trust, Network Security and SASE strategies
• Compelling communication to gain the trust and buy-in from Vice President and CXO contacts at our largest customers and prospects
• Setting and driving an agenda with the customer or prospect, both directly and with sales teams, and within the market through various engagements, including client workshops and architectural assessments and designs
• Developing and maintaining a deep understanding of competing solutions and architectures and being able to successfully position a Palo Alto Networks approach
• Uncovering new technology applications and use cases and aiding in creating presentations, documents, and deliverables that will illustrate value to prospects and customers and the Palo Alto Networks sales teams
• Uncovering and documenting technological/business value gaps between the Palo Alto Networks platform and competitive offerings and communicating these to the broader Palo Alto Networks Sales organization
• Becoming a valued resource to Product Management to discover and understand current shortcomings and competitive insights in our product suite and requirements for future strategic market segments
• The role will require close coordination with the EBC Team, Senior Leadership, Sales, Palo Alto Networks’ CISO and Theater CISO’s, Sales Engineering leadership, Product Management, Marketing, Channel Partners, and the Consulting Engineering team
• This is a senior technical customer-facing role, and the value produced must be evident and recurrent
• Customers and Sales Teams will ask for you by name

Qualifications

Your Experience

• Proven experience in pre-sales is highly preferable - We will also consider applicants with consulting experience
• Extensive knowledge of network and endpoint security architectures, history, and trends
• Solid fundamental networking background
• Knowledge of ancillary security areas such as identity management, SIEM, public and private cloud architectures
• Demonstrable experience in establishing credibility and strategic messaging with large enterprise customers
• "Whatever it takes" attitude and motivation to do whatever is necessary to close deals
• BSCS or equivalent experience 
• Expected customer travel is 50% both in theater and internationally, including customer and Palo Alto Networks location onsite meetings
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and presentation skills
• Robust problem finding and solving skills, ability to analyze complex multivariate problems, and systematic approach to gain quick resolution, even under duress
• Fluent French and advanced English language skills

Preferences

• Experience working with channel partners and understanding a channel-centric go-to-market approach
• Experience working with companies in the enterprise security space
• End customer background to validate your perspective with customers

Additional Information

The Team

Palo Alto Networks has brought technology to market that is reshaping the cybersecurity threat and protection landscape. Our ability to protect digital transactions is limited only by our ability to establish relationships with our potential customers and help them understand how our products can protect their environments. This is where our solution architect (SA) teams come in. Our SA team members work together with large organizations to keep their digital information safe. Our passionate systems engineering teams educate, inspire, and empower our potential clients.

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that 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  accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com.

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.