Sr. Manager, Strategic Segment Sales Operations

Company Description

* This role can be based in either our Santa Clara, CA or New York City office with a hybrid schedule of at least 3 days/week in office.*

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 believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes.

Job Description

Your Career

We are looking for an outstanding strategic operator to join the North America Sales Strategy & Operations organization.

You will be a thought partner to support the sales leadership team for our Strategic accounts in all aspects of the business. You will also work closely with cross-functional stakeholders (Finance, Marketing, HR, Central operations, Ecosystem, IT etc.). This role is a great fit for a self-starter who enjoys driving business impact and operational efficiency, can serve as an internal consultant (e.g., problem solver) and owner and will have the opportunity for significant exposure and visibility across the business. The candidate in this role will provide leadership, advisory & execution support in driving sales productivity, sales planning, sales forecasting, segmentation, and sales analytics.

Your Impact

• Act as key business partner & Chief of Staff to the President of Strategic Accounts and regional sales management team; establish, maintain, refine the rhythm of business

• Drive forecasting, deal structuring and participate in a month-end and quarter-end close process

  • Set up cadences for inspection of quarterly targets and forecasts

  • Optimize forecast accuracy by driving discipline with pipeline hygiene and forecast management

  • Facilitate tracking of outstanding purchase orders, ensuring order compliance, bookings reports, etc

  • Manage compliance of the non-standard transactions process; track quarterly metrics on average discounts, non-standard exceptions and recommend actions to improve these metrics

• Drive sales planning, account strategy & quarterly business review meetings with the sales management team

  • Run data analytics and partner with finance/market intelligence teams to assess TAM, product propensity to buy and optimize territory coverage

  • Work closely with sales management on GTM segmentation and coverage strategy implementation

  • Own and drive annual planning exercise for Strategic accounts - quota setting, territory & organization design

  • Partner with sales leadership to drive account & opportunity planning motion

• Manage all aspects of operations, tools, dashboards and reporting

  • Review and identify areas for improvement leading to operational efficiency

  • Assist in driving field readiness for new sales hires and ongoing sales processes training; Coordinate activities and priorities of enablement functions to improve alignment to sales strategy

  • Set up and manage sales programs to drive pipe generation and growth in accounts

  • Manage sales compensation escalations with the Sales Compensation team

  • Work closely with Finance, Sales Compensation and Central Analytics teams to develop & maintain scorecards and dashboards that bring transparency into business performance and arms sales leadership with insights needed to drive their business

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• 10+ years of experience in an enterprise subscription software sales strategy & operations role supporting large/strategic accounts

• Knowledge of SaaS / subscription based business models and associated KPIs (Retention & Renewal Rates, ARR, Expansion & Cross-Sell Rates, etc), sales processes and methodologies

• Proficiency with CRM & connected planning systems (e.g., Salesforce, Pigment, Anaplan)

• Attention to detail and ability to execute

• Strong business acumen and judgment, analytical and problem-solving skills, and ability to structure solutions to complex problems; Proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets, SQL & Tableau

• Strong communication