Senior Director, Technical Operations - Test

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

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Senior Director of Technical Operations to lead our end-to-end technical operations organization. This role will be responsible for driving manufacturing excellence, ensuring seamless product delivery across all lifecycle stages from NPI to volume production while scaling infrastructure, processes, and teams to support a growing portfolio of complex hardware systems.

In addition to traditional operations leadership, this role will play a critical part in creating and executing our AI and automation strategy across technical operations. You will lead the integration of AI-driven analytics, intelligent diagnostics, and automated test systems to enhance product quality, reduce downtime, and improve decision-making at scale.

This is a high-impact leadership role requiring deep expertise in test engineering, manufacturing operations, and cross-functional collaboration. The ideal candidate will be a data-driven, technically proficient leader with a passion for innovation, quality, and operational excellence.

Your Impact

• Lead the Technical Operations organization across manufacturing engineering, test engineering, NPI, and component engineering, ensuring seamless product delivery at every product lifecycle stage.

• Develop and implement a comprehensive, scalable test and automation strategy across NPI, sustaining, and repair lines optimizing for reliability, cost efficiency, and ease of manufacturability.

• Champion the adoption of AI-powered analytics, predictive diagnostics, and automated decision systems to improve operational agility and manufacturing intelligence.

• Oversee the design and deployment of next-generation test infrastructure, diagnostic tools, and AI-enabled analytics platforms for predictive failure analysis and proactive performance optimization.

• Scale manufacturing and integration processes from low- to high-volume production, with a focus on yield improvement, cost control, and global scalability.

• Collaborate with senior leaders in Hardware, Software, Platform Engineering, and Product Management to ensure tight alignment between product design and operational execution.

• Manage strategic relationships with contract manufacturers and suppliers, aligning capacity, capabilities, and timelines with growth objectives.

• Define, monitor, and report on key operational KPIs, delivering data-driven insights and leading continuous improvement initiatives across all technical operations.

• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing team of engineers and technical program managers, promoting a culture of innovation, ownership, and collaboration

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, or Industrial Engineering; Master’s degree or MBA preferred.

• 12+ yea