Principal NPI Solutions Architect

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks®, we’re united by a shared mission—to protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact, solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here, everyone has a voice, and every idea counts. If you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are, you’re in the right place.

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 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 Summary

The Team

Information Technology

Job Summary

As the company scales to handle a 2x surge in New Product Introduction (NPI) volume, we are transitioning to a "Design-First" model. We are seeking a high-caliber Lead NPI Solution Architect with profound expertise across the end-to-end Opportunity-to-Cash (O2C) lifecycle. In this role, you will be the primary solution orchestrator balancing business velocity with architectural rigor, owning the E2E solution design for complex NPIs and acting as a strategic bridge between Business Stakeholders, Product Teams, and IT Engineers.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive Complex Discovery: Lead cross-functional discovery, kickoff sessions, and solution walkthroughs for high-impact, non-standard NPIs across the enterprise portfolio.

• Architect O2C Systems Integration: Map product requirements seamlessly into complex backend ecosystems, ensuring flawless transactional integrity across Salesforce/CPQ, SAP ERP, and proprietary Entitlement/Licensing engines.

• Enforce Gatekeeping & Quality: Champion the "Design-First" framework. Ensure all non-standard solutions achieve early requirement sign-off and a comprehensive architectural walkthrough before releasing to downstream IT/SDLC execution layers.

• Minimize Technical Debt: Proactively identify and remediate operational gaps in the quoting-to-billing pipeline, shifting the organization away from manual fixes toward standardized, automated logic.

• Bridge Business & IT: Translate high-level business product concepts and monetization strategies into precise Solution architectures and designs that IT engineering can build against without ambiguity.

• Manage and work with Cross-Functional stakeholders: Ability to work with multiple stakeholders Product Managers, Finance, Sales Operations, Legal, Compliance, and IT Core Engineering teams, to understand their requirements to design solutions and act as the trusted advisor for all solutions.

• Post-NPI Deployment Support: Take operational ownership of newly launched products through the stabilization and normalization phases, minimizing post-production defects and ensuring clean transition to run teams.

• AI Ready - Ability to evolve the NPI process using AI Workflow & Agentic Orchestration: Experience designing business systems where AI agents interact via APIs with enterprise software (like ERP, CRM, or PLM) to automate data extraction, ingest unstructured inputs, and trigger lifecycle workflows.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 8 years of experience, or Master's degree with 6 years of experience, or PhD with 3 years of experience in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, or a related technical discipline.

• Hands-on experience in Technical Product Management, Solution Architecture, or Systems Consulting with a heavy focus on New Product Introduction (NPI) and Opportunity-to-Cash (O2C) flows.

• Strong technical and functional knowledge of CPQ platforms (e.g., Salesforce CPQ, Callidus) involving complex bundling, discounting, and guided selling.

• Deep experience with SAP ERP modules (specifically SD/Billing, FI/CO) handling order management