Sr. Manager, Professional Services (sase) - Remote Eligible

Sr. Manager, Professional Services (SASE)

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.

This role is remote, but distance is no barrier to impact. 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

As the Senior Professional Services Manager, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), you will be a critical leader in your designated region. You'll manage a high-performing team of SASE Professional Services Consultants and assigned personnel, driving the overall professional services business and providing expert oversight for all ongoing customer engagements. This role demands strong leadership to inspire a team with diverse skills and backgrounds. Your primary goal is to ensure the high-quality delivery of SASE security solutions while consistently achieving key professional services business metrics. This role is highly integrated with the Service Sales, Product Sales, and other Support teams, focusing on building strong, trusted relationships and ensuring successful outcomes.

• You will serve as the Professional Services leader for your team, ensuring service delivery exceeds customer expectations and drives high levels of customer engagement.
• Own the comprehensive financial and operational management of the business, which includes executing all activities tied to defined goals such as accelerating backlog retirement and ensuring revenue accuracy.
• Your leadership will drive operational excellence and ensure consistent operational discipline and accurate reporting, including ownership of key business metrics such as utilization and customer satisfaction.
• Ensure your team is appropriately staffed and has the necessary capacity to achieve quarterly goals, effectively managing a diverse mix of delivery resources (e.g., regional and global delivery teams) to achieve optimal efficiency.
• Champion the integration of AI/ML tools to optimize internal Professional Services operations, drive efficiency in service delivery, and develop innovative execution strategies to increase team productivity.
• A significant portion of your impact is external: collaborating with the sales leadership team, product, portfolio, and support teams where you will act as the Professional Services liaison to enable client success. You will build strong customer relationships and be the point of contact for successfully handling customer escalations to maintain high customer satisfaction.
• Focus on the efficient delivery of standardized professional service offerings, focusing on accelerating the customer's time-to-value (TTV) and enforcing high-quality, standardized service delivery methodologies across all engagements.

Qualifications

Your Experience

• 7+ years leading and scaling Professional Services or Customer Success teams responsible for the successful deployment and ongoing operation of complex enterprise security architectures, specifically SASE.
• 5+ years of experience in a management role overseeing technical consultants, architects, Customer Success Engineers or Resident Engineers/Extended Expertise staff, with teams of 10+ technical resources.
• Proven expertise in managing the full Professional Services or Customer Success project lifecycle from pre-sales through to successful project closeout and revenue recognition.
• Strong foundational understanding of Internet security concepts and products, with a deep demonstrated knowledge of SASE architecture and its components.
• Demonstrated experience running a profitable Professional Services or Customer Success business, including achieving revenue/margin targets, managing backlog health, and optimizing project closure rates.
• Skilled in key business systems, including:
• Experience with Professional Services Automation tools (e.g., Clarizen, Certina, Kantata) for tracking metrics like utilization, time-off, and backlog.
• Experience with Sales Management tools (e.g., Salesforce) for revenue forecasting and pipeline review.
• Experience with Business Intelligence tools (e.g., Tableau) for reporting on key operational metrics.
• Demonstrated ability to manage critical customer escalations effectively and ensure prompt resolution for high-profile clients.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical knowledge to non-technical individuals and leadership.
• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent military experience.
• Relevant industry certifications such as CISSP and/or PMP are highly desirable.
• Ability to travel up to 25% domestically to customer sites and internal business meetings.