Senior Manager, Sales Leadership Development & AI Transformation

Senior Manager, Sales Leadership Development & AI Transformation

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.

Our hybrid teams collaborate across geographies to solve big problems, stay close to our customers, and grow together. You will be part of a culture that values trust, accountability, and shared success where your work truly matters.

Job Description

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a forward-thinking Senior Manager of Sales Leadership Development to pioneer the next generation of leadership within our sales organization. This critical role is focused on developing our sales leaders and equipping them with the strategies and tools to excel. You will be responsible for designing and implementing a world-class leadership development program, with a strong emphasis on leveraging breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance coaching, optimize sales processes, and drive a high performance culture.

The ideal candidate will possess a deep understanding of sales leadership principles combined with a passion for emerging technologies, particularly AI and its application in a sales context. You will act as a trusted advisor to our sales leadership, helping them build high-performing teams that are ready for the future of sales.

Sales Leadership Development Strategy: Design, build, and execute a comprehensive development program for all levels of sales leadership, from first-line managers to senior leaders. This includes curriculum design, workshop facilitation, and creating a continuous learning culture.

Strategic AI Integration: Act as the primary consultant for sales leadership on integrating AI into their management operating rhythm. Identify opportunities where AI can improve forecasting accuracy, strategic account planning, and overall process efficiency.

AI-Powered Coaching Excellence: Champion the use of AI tools to provide data-driven insights into team performance. Coach sales leaders on how to use conversation intelligence and other AI platforms to deliver targeted, effective coaching at scale.

Performance Analytics & Insights: Utilize data and analytics to measure the effectiveness of leadership development programs. Leverage AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) to identify trends in leadership behaviors that correlate with top performance and replicate them across the organization.

Change Management & AI Adoption: Lead initiatives to drive the adoption of AI-powered tools and workflows among the sales leadership team. Articulate the value of human-AI collaboration and ensure managers are equipped to lead their teams through this transformation.

Process Optimization: Collaborate with sales operations to review and refine sales processes. Ensure that processes are standardized to generate the high-quality data necessary for AI systems to learn and provide valuable insights for leadership.

Qualifications

Sales Leadership Experience: Proven experience (5+ years) in a direct sales leadership role is strongly preferred. Alternatively, extensive experience in a sales leadership development or coaching role.

Sales Process: Proven expertise in the methodologies of successful sales leadership. This includes the ability to coach leaders on strategic territory planning, build and inspect sales pipelines, and implement consistent, accurate forecasting cadences to drive predictable revenue.

AI & Technology Acumen: A strong understanding of how AI, machine learning, and data analytics can be applied to improve sales processes and leadership effectiveness.

Strategic & Analytical Mindset: Capacity to think strategically, identify complex challenges within a sales organization, and use data to design and measure effective solutions.

Adaptability and growth mindset: A passion for learning and the ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment where technology and buyer behaviors are constantly evolving.

Leadership Development Expertise: Demonstrated success in designing and implementing impactful leadership development or sales enablement programs.

Influential Communicator: Exceptional communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills. Ability to build trust and influence senior sales leaders.