Senior Manager, Cloud Strategy and Operations

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.

Your Career

In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to drive real impact at the intersection of finance, technology, and strategy. You'll partner directly with senior product and engineering leaders and finance leaders to influence key decisions around our cloud hosting and product strategy and help shape how we think about financial efficiency at scale.

This position is ideal for someone with a technical background looking to transition from a top-tier consulting environment into a high-growth tech company or for someone who has experience in partnering with product finance or FinOps that is ready to own strategic finance initiatives across a critical business area. You will build deep expertise in cloud technologies, gain visibility with executive leadership, and help evolve how financial insights drive product and operational decisions.

If you're passionate about problem solving, thrive in cross-functional settings, and want to build a career at the cutting edge of FinOps and cloud strategy—this is your chance.

This is an in office role in our HQ, Santa Clara, CA.

Your Impact

• Strategic Thought Leadership: Be the thought partner to Cortex, one of our product platforms, on cloud hosting strategy, cost optimization and enabling business growth

• Data-Driven Insights: Develop and monitor critical success metrics, providing actionable insights that empower product and cross-functional teams to drive key business decisions

• Cloud FinOps Excellence: Define and lead Cloud FinOps initiatives, bringing industry best practices and mobilizing cross-functional teams to jointly deliver on our priorities

• End-to-End Initiative Ownership: Lead high-impact strategic initiatives, including managing complex negotiations with Cloud Service Providers to secure favorable terms and optimize long-term value

• Financial forecasting and planning: Drive alignment with all the Cortex teams and be responsible for Monthly Business Reviews, Monthly Forecast, Annual Planning, and Long-Range Planning

Your Experience 

• Bachelors or Advanced Degree in Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience)

• 8+ years of experience of management consulting, finance (especially product finance) or business analytics, ideally within the technology sector

• A collaborative, results-driven team player with a "no stone unturned" approach and resilience to overcome challenges

• Strong analytical skills to synthesize data and drive actionable executive decisions

• Proven ability to work effectively with global teams across different time zones, communicate financial concepts, and foster cross-department collaboration

• Ability to understand cloud hosting, products, and engage with engineers, product managers, and technical teams

• Proactive, high-performance attitude with the ability to meet tight deadlines and tackle new challenges

• Ability to drive decisions and outcomes using data, without formal authority

• Exceptional presentation skills, with the ability to lead and clearly communicate complex ideas

• Proficient in building dynamic, integrated financial models with strong attention to detail and experience working with large datasets

• Bachelor or Advanced Degree in Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience)

• Preferred (Not Required): Familiarity with cloud infrastructure and basic SQL for data extraction

The Team

Cloud infrastructure is a critical strategic component to our cloud delivered security offerings. The Cloud Finance team manages cloud spend across the whole PANW portfolio and across Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). We directly manage relationships with our CSPs and drive procurement optimizations via rate negotiations and committed/reserved usage discounts.  Working alongside a tight-knit cross-functional group with Cloud Center of Excellence and Data teams, we build tooling and dashboards to provide teams with visibility into usage optimization opportunities and cloud unit economics, enabling teams to make the best strategic business decisions and providing Executive Staff with insightful, proactive recommendations to drive both topline growth and bottom-line efficiency across all Cloud hosted products within the Company. 

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that take risks and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at  [email protected].

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $140000 - $226500/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that take risks and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at  [email protected].

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.