District Systems Engineer

About this role

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!

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 Summary

The District Systems Engineer, Commercial, is a vital part of our sales team, serving as a trusted technical advisor to customers and helping them secure their businesses with Palo Alto Networks solutions. You will provide pre-sales technical support to our commercial sales teams, aligning security solutions with customer needs and ensuring successful deployments that drive adoption and business value.

As a District Systems Engineer, you will work with customers to understand their security challenges, architect solutions that address those challenges, and demonstrate the value of Palo Alto Networks' comprehensive cybersecurity platform. You will be responsible for driving technical wins and ensuring the continued satisfaction of our customers in the commercial sector.

Your Impact

Curiosity and problem-solving drive the District Systems Engineer role, and you thrive on helping customers secure their environments with innovative solutions. You define your impact by: • Partnering with sales teams to meet and exceed sales quotas by building and implementing strategic technical account plans

• Positioning, demonstrating, and designing security architectures across the Palo Alto Networks portfolio based on customer business needs and architecting complex environments, including network security, security operations, and cloud security. 

• Driving customer adoption of the Palo Alto Networks security platform by helping customers achieve enhanced security, operational efficiency, and business flexibility

• Conducting technical discovery to understand customer requirements and aligning solutions to their specific needs

• Leading proof-of-concept (PoC) engagements, technical workshops, and product demonstrations to showcase the capabilities of our security platform

• Collaborating with Professional Services, Customer Success, and Specialist teams to ensure seamless implementation and adoption of solutions

• Effectively communicating complex security concepts to a variety of stakeholders, from technical practitioners to executive leadership

• Orchestrating supporting resources (Specialists, Channel Partners, Customer Support) to drive a unified strategy for customer success

• Promoting end-to-end security solutions, including Palo Alto Networks and partner professional services, to maximize customer security posture and business value

• Staying ahead of industry trends, competitive landscapes, and emerging security threats to position Palo Alto Networks as the cybersecurity leader

• Continuously investing in personal development to enhance technical expertise and professional skills while actively contributing to the District Systems Engineer community and industry events

• Demonstrating diversity in technical knowledge across SOC, Cloud, Networking, and NetSec, with an emphasis on SOC and Cloud, to drive cross-training and develop platform expertise across the team

• Becoming a technical leader with the desire to grow into a Palo Alto Networks portfolio architect, gaining expertise from NGFW to SASE, SOC, Cloud, and Unit 42 consulting services

• Balancing technical acumen with strategic thinking—acting as one part technical architect and one part CTO

• Building and maintaining strong relationships while demonstrating strong consulting skills

• Understanding the competitive landscape deeply, at least in your area of specialty

• Designing and architecting large, complex environments, leveraging expertise in your technical domain

• Developing strong business acumen with near-term potential to grow into CTO/CIO/CISO-level leadership

• Willingness to travel up to 50% within the assigned district

• Serving as a role model and mentor for inside Systems Engineers

Qualifications Your Experience: • 3+ years of experience in pre-sales/sales engineering and/or completion of the SC Academy

• Understanding of data networking, security architectures, and modern cloud computing environments

• Experience in delivering cybersecurity solutions that solve technical challenges and influence new business initiatives is preferred

• Influencing and gaining buy-in from key stakeholders, either in a customer-facing or internal role; prior experience in a pre-sales role is ideal

• Creating and delivering technical presentations, workshops, or technical validation engagements

• Experience in selling, designing, implementing, or managing one or more of the following solutions: Network Security, SASE, SaaS, CNAPP and/or SOC Transformation Technologies

• Partnering with Customer Support functions to ensure successful implementation and adoption of sold solutions

• Experience in complex sales involving long sales processes with multiple buying centers and multi-product

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