Senior Sales Ops Manager, SLED Operations - Palo Alto Networks

Our Mission

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.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Your Career

We are looking for a Senior Sales Operations Manager to support the US SLED leadership team in all aspects of the business. You will partner with Channel, Marketing, Finance, and HR while being an integral part of the North American Sales Operations organization. This role is a great fit for a self-starter who enjoys driving business impact and operational efficiency, can serve as an internal consultant (e.g., problem solver) and owner and will have the opportunity for significant exposure and visibility across the business.

The candidate in this role will provide leadership and advisory support in driving Sales Productivity, GTM Strategy, Sales Planning, Sales Forecasting, Segmentation, and Sales Analytics.

Your Impact

• Act as key business partner to US Senior VP and Regional Management Team interfacing cross-functionally in the organization
• Drive forecasting, deal structuring and participate in a month-end and quarter-end close process
  • Set up cadences and inspection of quarterly targets and forecasts for the overall SLED US Sales teams
  • Optimize forecast accuracy by driving discipline with pipeline hygiene and forecast management
  • Facilitate tracking of outstanding purchase orders, ensuring order compliance, bookings reports, etc
  • Manage compliance of the non-standard transactions process - track quarterly metrics on average discounts, non-standard exceptions and recommend action items to improve these metrics
• Drive Sales Operations Planning, Quarterly Business Review meetings and Territory Planning with Sales Management Team
  • Run data analytics and partner with the strategy to assess the total addressable commercial market, product propensity to buy and optimize territory coverage - Use this to develop SLED bundles for Enterprise, Majors customers, in collaboration with marketing, partners and the renewals team
  • Work closely with functional and sales management on GTM segmentation and coverage strategy implementation
  • Provide analysis and reporting of compensation plan effectiveness and efficiency, including performance reporting at the individual, manager, and regional levels - Compile, assess and report on performance and earnings distributions
  • Drive standards in territory planning with SLED sales and partners
  • Develop a repeatable motion for account planning, lead generation and pipeline development, whereby sellers prioritize their top whitespace accounts, with sellers handing off other accounts to partners.
• Manage all aspects of Operations, Tools, Dashboards and Reporting for the US SLED sector
  • Support process enhancements, modifications and best practices development
  • Assist in driving field readiness for new sales hires and ongoing sales processes training
  • Track and manage pipe generation across the direct field, partner and support functions 
  • Set up and manage sales play programs to drive pipe generation and optimize deals across whitespace accounts, underpenetrated accounts and renewing customers
  • Review and identify areas for improvement leading to operational efficiency, process optimization and field acceleration (sales enablement tools, process, and programs)
  • Coordinate activities and priorities of enablement functions to improve alignment to sales strategy

Your Experience 

• Minimum of 10+ years experience in a Sales Operations Senior Manager role is required with prior experience as business partner to sales and partner leadership (SVP/GM level)
• Deep experience working with Salesforce CRM, data analytics and annual planning tools with hands-on experience in business analysis, data analytics, and statistical modeling
• Exceptional communication skills and proven ability to create initiatives, plan and manage at both strategic and operational levels, across numerous cross-functional stakeholders
• A mission-driven, team player approach and a desire to make an impact and difference - Strong organizational skills, self-starter, and can quickly identify and resolve inefficiencies across the business
• Well experienced in a Sales Operations/Finance environment - Strong understanding of sales processes and methodologies
• Previous Experience supporting State and Local Gov and Education Customers is a plus

The Team 

Our sales operation team members support our sales account managers and systems engineers to assist in large organization’s migrations to more cybersecurity. Sales operations work behind the scenes to make sure that our sales relationships run smoothly, enabling and empowering the teams across the world. 

You support the sales team by providing research, reports, and craft and support systems and processes that enable the process of sales. It’s a true partnership, one built on building the best cybersecurity solutions for each individual client. 

Compensation Disclosure

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 $145000 - $234500/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here. 

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that take risks and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at  accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com.

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.