Senior Competitive Strategy Analyst - Data Security

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 has a world-class product management organization and continues to look for top-notch talent to expand the team. As a Senior Competitive Strategy Analyst at Palo Alto Networks, you will be responsible for defining the future of network security services and continuing to drive innovation into our network security portfolio. This role provides you an opportunity to define the future of the security subscriptions industry by solving key problems for our customers and reestablishing what’s possible in this space.

You will analyze a set of competitors to provide product managers and engineering leadership with an objective assessment of Palo Alto Networks’ market position. You will help maintain our position as the market leader and educate internal teams on the competitive landscape. 

To be successful in this position, you must possess a combination of strong technical acumen, analytical skills, as well as a passion for cybersecurity while bridging customer business requirements with key competitive and market trends. You have a track record of building actionable competitive analysis, conducting hands-on testing of competitor products, and collaborating with key stakeholders.

Your Impact

• This role reports to the Senior Manager of Competitive Strategy for our Network Security business unit and provides insights on competitor strategies, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and strategic plans
• This strategic role is centered around helping position Palo Alto Networks’ advantages in a highly competitive network security industry
• This role combines strategic and hands-on responsibilities that include analyzing product functionality, capabilities, and platforms at the technical feature level
• The successful candidate will be very clear-minded, inventive, collaborative, data-driven, objective, and able to see trends before they happen
• You’ll help develop our forward-looking product strategies with the product leaders, providing enough tension in the process to ensure a great outcome while remaining collaborative to arrive at unified recommendations

Qualifications

Your Experience

• BS/MS or equivalent experience or equivalent military experience required 
• 8+ years in the cybersecurity industry, network security preferred
• 2+ years experience working with and using security subscription services (e.g., IPS, DNS, sandbox, CASB, DLP, etc.)
• Exposure to AI technologies (e.g., Security co-pilots, LLMs, etc.)
• Preferred candidates will have exposure to competitive intelligence and cybersecurity
• Strong (written and verbal) communication and presentation skills, with the ability to address audiences of differing technical backgrounds
• Strong interpersonal skills contributing to cross-functional teams
• Experience in fast-paced environments with overlapping projects/delive