Sr. Director, Strategic Research Group - Unit 42

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.

FLEXWORK is an employee-centric reimagining of how we work. We built FLEXWORK based on employee feedback – it is about flexibility, trust, and choice whenever possible. It’s been a journey of disruption that has yielded the best of our values. We offer as much flexibility as possible, and choices that enable you to be most productive, including benefits that meet your needs and learning opportunities that you feel passionate about.

Our Approach to Work

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work from the office three days per week, leaving two days for choice and flexibility to work where you feel most effective. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. While details may evolve, our goal is to create an environment where innovation thrives, with office-based teams coming together three days a week to collaborate and thrive, together!

Job Description

Your Career

We are seeking a Senior Director for our Unit 42 Threat Intelligence team to run the Strategic Research Group, a team of elite threat intelligence experts dedicated to producing unique insights and intelligence through our proprietary data sets. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in enhancing our threat research capabilities, understanding threat actors and their tactics, and contributing to the development of world-class threat intelligence products and services. 

Your Impact

As the Senior Director of the Strategic Research Group for Unit 42, your primary responsibilities will include:

• Lead the Strategic Research Group in producing unique and actionable intelligence using our proprietary data sets
• Develop a comprehensive understanding of threat actors, their motivations, and their modus operandi
• Establish and cultivate a world-class Coordinated Research Team to enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing within the Unit 42 Threat Intelligence division
• Oversee the tracking and analysis of Nation State/APT and Cybercrime attack groups and their activities
• Manage the Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering team to analyze and dissect emerging threats, malware, and zero day attacks
• Implement a Unit 42 Subject Matter Expert (SME) program to provide region-specific threat research with clear research accountability
• Accelerate the creation of strategic threat intelligence and contribute to the development of a Knowledge Store to enable efficient intelligence sharing
• Expand threat actor and malware family profiles for deeper insights and proactive defense measures
• Collaborate with other product teams to deliver Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) and Signatures for various products offered by the company
• Identify and address product telemetry access gaps through thorough threat research and notify relevant product teams
• Create and lead a victim identification program to support organizations who are actively under attack
• Production of a high cadence of quality Threat Intel research on the respected Unit 42 blog

Qualifications

Your Experience

• A recognized thought leader in the field of Threat Intelligence with a proven track record of driving innovation and advancement in the industry
• Excellent public speaking skills with experience presenting at conferences and engaging with executives internally
• Demonstrated ability to manage and mentor a team of exceptional intelligence managers and help them drive the future directions of their respective teams
• Proven experience in developing business plans related to Threat Intelligence initiatives
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to effectively triage and prioritize tasks in a fast-paced environment
• Experience in coordinating with cross-organizational threat analysts to maximize threat intelligence efforts
• Comfortable with client-facing responsibilities, including meeting and presenting to large customers globally often
• Ability to engage with engineering teams to prioritize threat intelligence requirements in product development
• Proficiency in data modeling and storage of intelligence data to enable scalable and high-performing operations