PALO ALTO NETWORKS® is the fastest-growing security company in history.  We offer the chance to be part of an important mission: ending breaches and protecting our way of digital life. If you are a motivated, intelligent, creative, and hardworking individual, then this job is for you! 

The State & Local Government (SLG) Market Development Director/Manager identifies, develops, and captures substantial and sustainable future business for Palo Alto Networks these markets. The person in this role provides visible industry leadership to build our brand in SLG markets and develops strategies, solutions, and programs that align Palo Alto Networks and partner sales teams to the most attractive opportunities. Ideal candidates for this role bring a blend of business development experience in the State and Local Government market and strong program management skills. Passion for our SLG customers’ mission and outcomes is a must.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Know the market and future trends

• Maintain deep and nuanced awareness of state and local government market needs, challenges, trends, and technology adoption patterns.
• Embed with key customer groups such as NASCIO, NASTD, GCTC, sector-based ISACs, US Ignite, etc.
• Engage with sales and our community to capture and evaluate the voice of the customer

Create our business roadmap

• Identify the best business opportunities, and map the customers technical, operational, regulatory, and business requirements
• Collaborate with Corporate and Product Management teams to prioritize investments and product features required for government solutions
• Develop and maintain relationships with ISVs and Application providers for joint solution development and reference architectures
• Identify and develop funding sources (eg, grants, bond issues, federal programs) for relevant business opportunities

Build programs to capture the opportunity

• Work with Industry Initiatives team to create market solutions that include product, software, services and technology partners and that take advantage of our best-in-class Security Operating Platform
• Aggregate customer demand and provide targeting data and tools
• Develop channel segmentation and solution go-to-market models, aligned with the Sales leadership
• Leverage Alliance Partners to optimize solution effectiveness and customer reach
• Develop market-specific proposal templates & content for sales to leverage for use in pursuits

Leadership and oversight

• Deploy and manage programs, inclusive of training and measurement, through Sales and partners
• Contribute to key sales planning activities, including large deal reviews, account planning, and health checks
• Participate in key sales cycles, speak at industry events, and engage with customers on-site and at our Executive Briefing Center
• Provide forums for sales managers collaborate, and on-going communication channels (email, portals, webcasts, etc.)

REQUIREMENTS:

• Significant experience working in the state & local government markets, with first-hand mastery of issues related to technology usage, and the most common software and technology providers in the ecosystem
• Facility with public sector contracts, procurement terms and processes, and funding sources
• Program management skills, and ability to manage a cross-functional team
• Experience working in and establishing a variety of sales models and supplier/partner relationship models, ideally including hardware/title and software/license models
• Exceptional public speaking and C-Level customer consultative and relationship skills
• Research and analytical skills
• Proven ability to balance a complex workload, with short- and long-term requirements.
• Ability to work autonomously within pre-defined parameters

Learn more about Palo Alto Networks HERE and check out our FAST FACTS