Palo Alto Networks Technical Business Development Manager

General Description:

GuidePoint Security is seeking a Palo Alto Networks Technical Business Development Manager to help accelerate the growth of GuidePoint’s Palo Alto Networks business across its eight regions. This role will focus on developing and executing the technical go-to-market strategy for the Palo Alto Networks portfolio and helping GuidePoint effectively position the combined value of GuidePoint Security + Palo Alto Networks within strategic existing customers and targeted prospective accounts. The Technical BDM will work closely with the Palo Alto Networks Partner team, GuidePoint sales teams, sales engineers, professional services, and Palo Alto Networks field teams to identify opportunities, develop technical sales strategies, support strategic deals, and create repeatable technical GTM motions. A key component of the role will be building GuidePoint’s technical capabilities around the Palo Alto Networks portfolio through enablement, certification, technical readiness, and hands-on solution development. The ideal candidate combines strong cybersecurity and technical knowledge with business-development skills and the ability to translate technology into customer business outcomes. The role will help drive toward the strategic objective of making Palo Alto Networks GuidePoint Security’s #1 technology partnership.

Key Metrics:

Work with the joint Palo Alto partner teams to drive 3x pipeline and grow the business to over $500M in two years.

Continue to drive deal registrations above 65%.

Meet and exceed all pre sales and delivery certifications for Diamond partner level.

Drive company wide technical enablements one a quarter, with additional education in each region, with considerations for each of the relevant COE’s with a goal of 8 internal hands on enablements a year.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Technical GTM Strategy - Help develop and execute a national Palo Alto Networks Technical GTM Strategy across GuidePoint’s eight regions.

Develop repeatable technical sales motions around key Palo Alto Networks solutions.

Identify market opportunities, customer use cases, competitive displacement opportunities, and whitespace.

Develop technical plays for Cortex, SASE, Strata, Identity Security/Idira, AIRS, Cloud Security, and other strategic solutions.

Partner with regional sales and technical teams to identify and prioritize strategic accounts.

Create technical campaigns, workshops, POCs, assessments, and other activities that generate qualified pipeline.

Strategic Account & Opportunity Support

Serve as a technical business-development resource for GuidePoint’s largest and most strategic Palo Alto Networks opportunities.

Partner with account executives and sales engineers on strategic pursuits in current and whitespace prospects.

Help develop account-specific technical strategies and messaging.

Help position GuidePoint and Palo Alto Networks as a combined cybersecurity solution rather than simply a technology sale.

Support customer executive briefings, technical workshops, architecture discussions, and POCs.

Assist with competitive displacement and platform consolidation opportunities.

Technical Enablement

Coordinate the development and execution of a Palo Alto Networks technical enablement program for GuidePoint that includes all 8 regions.

Build a structured enablement roadmap for sales engineers, architects, consultants, professional services, and other technical resources.

Enablement should include:

Virtual technical sessions & Regional onsite workshops

Hands-on labs

Solution boot camps & Architecture workshops

Competitive positioning

POC development

Customer use cases

Certification & Technical Readiness

Help maintain GuidePoint’s technical readiness and compliance with Palo Alto Networks partner requirements.

Develop regional certification targets and plans & track certification progress across the eight regions.

Pipeline & Business Development

Work in tandem with the Palo Alto Channel Management team to drive pipeline and bookings across GuidePoint’s nationally.

Co-execute on Palo Alto’s strategic account sales plays as delivered by Palo, this includes driving sales and leadership connections, ensuring deal registration, and ensuring account data accuracy.

Key activities include:

Identify whitespace in existing GuidePoint accounts.

Assist with account mapping between sales teams as needed.

Assist with driving deal registration in over 65% of joint opportunities.

Support cross-sell and multi-product opportunities.

Identify competitive displacement opportunities.

Help regional teams convert technical interest into qualified pipeline.

Required Qualifications:

5+ years of cybersecurity, technology, sales engineering, business development, consulting, or related experience.

Strong understanding of enterprise cybersecurity technologies and architectures.

Experience working with enterprise customers and technical decision makers.

Ability to understand and communicate complex cybersecurity solutions.

Strong presentation, communication, and relationship-building skills.

Experience supporting technology sales or business-development activities.

Ability to work collaboratively across sales, engineering, professional services, and vendor organizations.

Demonstrated ability to create and execute technical enablement programs.

Strong organizational and project-management skills.

Willingness to travel for customer, regional, and vendor engagements.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with Palo Alto Networks technologies.

Palo Alto Networks certifications such as PCNSE or equivalent.

Experience with Cortex/XDR/XSIAM, SASE/Prisma Access, Strata, Cloud Security, Identity Security, or AI Security.

Experience working for a cybersecurity vendor, VAR, MSSP, or consulting organization.

Experience supporting large enterprise or Fortune 500 customers.

Experience with POCs, technical assessments, or professional services.

Experience working within a channel/vendor partner ecosystem.

Travel Requirements:

Up to 50% travel

Physical Requirements:

Sedentary work

Substantial movement of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers for a minimum of 8 hours a day

Required to have close visual acuity to view computer terminal and/or extensive reading for a minimum of 8 hours a day