Sr Manager - Strategic Finance & Investor Relations

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!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Job Description

Your Career

Palo Alto Networks is looking for an experienced finance professional to join the team, responsible for Strategic Finance and Investor Relations. We’re looking for someone with a deep analytical mindset and a strong corporate finance foundation, ideally with experience in investment banking, equity research or FP&A. This role is for a self-starter and great communicator who is passionate about using financial analysis to frame and influence long-term business strategy in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

This role will be a critical partner to our executive team, responsible for providing in-depth financial analysis and insights on long-range planning, competitive positioning, and capital allocation strategies. You will play a key role in shaping the financial narrative of the company and translating complex market dynamics into actionable business intelligence.

Your Impact

• Develop and manage our long-term 3-statement financial model, ensuring it is updated quarterly with the latest forecasts and strategic inputs.
• Perform and maintain in-depth competitive benchmarking and analysis, providing insights on peer performance, industry trends, and market/valuation trends.
• Prepare and update discussion materials for the executive team on key strategic topics, including Total Shareholder Return (TSR) analysis, M&A analysis, capital allocation and other strategic/financial initiatives.
• Support quarter earnings process and investor briefings, including preparation of the earnings presentation, financial outlook and various ad-hoc projects to address inquiries from the investment community.
• Partner with Corporate FP&A, Accounting, M&A and other cross-functional teams to gather data and ensure alignment on all financial models and analysis.

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• 12 years of experience and Bachelor's degree in Economics, Business, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent military experience required, or 8 years of experience and a Masters. 
• 5+ years of related experience in finance; prior experience in investment banking, equity research or corporate FP&A is strongly preferred.
• MBA strongly preferred.
• Exceptional financial modeling skills with a deep understanding of how to build and maintain a 3-statement financial model from scratch.
• Proven ability to conduct in-depth competitive analysis, peer benchmarking, and valuation analysis.
• Familiarity with managing large datasets and deriving executive-level insights; experience with capital allocation and shareholder return metrics is a plus.
• Ability to link the big-picture strategic questions to the granular details of a financial model.
• Strong team player with excellent communication and presentation skills, comfortable interacting with senior leadership.
• Willingness and ability to adapt to the rapid business a