Director, People Strategy

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

In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our over 16K employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption, Collaboration, Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest, we invite you to join us!

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

As the Director, People Strategy you will serve as a strategic advisor and thought partner to the Chief People Officer and the People Leadership Team (PLT).

This role is at the center of how our People organization plans, measures, and communicates its impact. You’ll architect the frameworks that translate our People vision, into actionable strategies, clear metrics, and compelling Board-level narratives.

Your Impact

1. Strategic Partner to the CPO

• Partner with the CPO to develop, evolve, and operationalize the multi-year People Strategy, ensuring alignment with enterprise priorities and transformation objectives.

• Act as a connector and integrator across all People sub-functions, including Talent, Total Rewards, DEI, Learning, HR Tech, and Places,  bringing cohesion and clarity to the collective strategy.

• Support the PLT in setting and prioritizing strategic initiatives that enable scale, impact, and transformation.

2. Strategic Planning & KPI Governance

• Lead the People Team’s strategic planning and goal-setting process, ensuring tight alignment with company-level OKRs.

• Develop and maintain a People Strategy Dashboard that tracks performance against key enterprise and People metrics, including leadership confidence, engagement, performance differentiation, and efficiency.

• Drive accountability by ensuring the PLT measures what matters, reports outcomes consistently, and uses data to guide decision-making.

3. Transformation Design & Strategic Governance

• Structure and frame People-related transformation initiatives 

• Provide strategic scaffolding and governance models for initiatives led across the People function, ensuring alignment, sequencing, and clarity of ownership.

• Serve as the strategic interface between the People Team and Corp Strategy and or other Transformation Offices to ensure synchronization of priorities.

4. Executive and Board Communications

• Lead the creation of executive and Board-facing communications that articulate the People Strategy and progress against key priorities.

• Develop clear, data-driven narratives and materials for Board updates, executive off-sites, and quarterly business reviews, reflecting the strategic maturity of the People function.

• Translate analytics and insights into concise, compelling stories that demonstrate organizational impact, transformation outcomes, and future priorities.

5. Research, Benchmarking & Strategic Insight

• Conduct market and best-practice research across high-growth and technology peers to inform the evolution of Palo Alto Networks’ People Strategy.

• Act as the internal strategist who anticipates talent and organizational needs based on external trends and internal data.

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• 8–12 years of experience in People Strategy, Corporate Strategy, or Management Consulting, ideally within a high-growth or technology environment.

• Demonstrated success in strategy development, organizational design, and enterprise planning at scale.

• Strong analytical and conceptual skills; able to integrate data, insight, and storytelling into actionable strategies.

• Exceptional communication and pre