[Hiring] Sr. Manager, Global Certifications @Palo Alto Networks

Role Description

As the Sr. Manager, Global Certifications (Federal), you will play a pivotal role in opening and maintaining critical public sector markets for our world-class products. Government certifications (FedRAMP, DoD IL, etc.) are high-stakes, high-value assets that enable our technology to protect the nation's most sensitive data.

• Define and execute a multi-year government certifications roadmap (FedRAMP, DoD IL5, etc.) with clear, measurable milestones that align with the company’s diverse product portfolio and sales goals.
• Build, mentor, and maintain a high-performing team of Certification Product Managers; foster a culture of technical depth, operational efficiency, and proactive risk management.
• Own the end-to-end certification lifecycle. Establish and mature key operational processes—including intake, audit management, artifact collection, and continuous monitoring—to improve team efficiency and scalability.
• Guide Product and Engineering teams through complex certification requirements (NIST 800-53, architecture, crypto modules), translating government controls into actionable engineering specifications.
• Effectively present certification status, risks, and solution options to senior leadership. Resolve compliance roadblocks by negotiating risk acceptance with internal leadership and external stakeholders.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for external auditors (3PAOs) and government accreditors (FedRAMP PMO, DISA). Deeply understand the government ecosystem to anticipate regulatory changes and their business impact.
• Possess the technical aptitude to understand complex cloud architectures (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and shared responsibility models, acting as a translator between highly technical security teams and business-focused Sales/GTM teams.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of total experience in Compliance/GRC, with at least 5+ years specifically leading government certification programs (FedRAMP, DoD SRG, Common Criteria, etc.).
• Deep, expert-level understanding of the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) and NIST SP 800-53; ability to map these controls to specific product features and modern cloud architectures.
• Proven experience managing people and leading high-visibility projects; ability to coach team members on complex deliverables like System Security Plans (SSPs) and POA&M management.
• Strong familiarity with Cloud Service Provider (CSP) infrastructure models and modern application architectures (containers, microservices). Experience with GRC platforms used to automate evidence collection is a plus.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills. You must be able to explain "why" a control matters to an engineer and "how" a certification impacts revenue to a sales VP.
• BS degree in a technical or business field required (MS preferred). Industry certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or CISA are highly desired.

Benefits

• 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 $180,000 - $220,000/YR.
• The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus.

Company Description

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.

• We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously.
• We are relentless in protecting our customers and believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contribute to our collective success.
• Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us every day.
• We work fast, value ongoing learning, and respect each employee as a unique individual.