Specialist - Presales (Palo Alto)

It's fun to work in a company where people truly BELIEVE in what they're doing!

Job Description:

Key Responsibilities

Pre-Sales & Solution Engineering

• Act as the Technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Palo Alto Networks security portfolio, including:
  • Next-Generation Firewalls (PA-Series & VM-Series)
  • Panorama
  • Prisma Access (SASE)
  • Prisma SD-WAN
  • Prisma Cloud
  • Cortex XDR
  • Cortex XSOAR
  • Cortex XSIAM (preferred)
• Support technical pre-sales activities including:
  • Requirement gathering
  • Security assessments
  • Solution architecture and design
  • Technical presentations
  • Product demonstrations
  • Proof of Concept (POC) deployment and validation
• Assist the Product and Sales team with:
  • RFP/RFI responses
  • Bill of Materials (BOM) preparation
  • Licensing guidance
  • Subscription sizing
  • Solution positioning

Partner & Customer Engagement

• Participate in:
  • Distribution Managed Partner Round Tables
  • Partner Technical Workshops
  • Customer Technical Round Tables
  • Executive Briefing Sessions
  • Security Days and Roadshows
• Engage directly with partners and enterprise customers to position Palo Alto Networks solutions.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor throughout the complete sales lifecycle.

Training, Enablement & Onboarding

• Conduct partner enablement sessions on Palo Alto Networks products.
• Deliver technical workshops and hands-on labs.
• Support new partner onboarding and technical readiness.
• Assist partners in preparing for Palo Alto Networks certifications.
• Build and maintain demo environments, lab guides, and technical documentation.
• Conduct internal enablement sessions for sales and pre-sales teams.

Collaboration & Vendor Interaction

• Work closely with:
  • Internal Sales Teams
  • Product Managers
  • Palo Alto Networks Channel Teams
  • Palo Alto Networks Systems Engineers
• Stay updated with:
  • New product releases
• Gather customer and partner feedback to improve Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies.

Required Skills & Experience

Technical Skills

Strong hands-on experience with Palo Alto Networks security solutions, especially:

• Next-Generation Firewalls
• Panorama
• Security Policies
• NAT
• VPN (Site-to-Site & GlobalProtect)
• App-ID
• User-ID
• Content-ID
• WildFire
• DNS Security
• Threat Prevention

Good understanding of:

• Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
• Zero Trust Security
• SD-WAN
• Endpoint Security
• SOC Operations
• XDR Concepts
• Cloud Security
• Container Security (Preferred)

Certifications (Mandatory / Preferred)

Preferred Certifications:

• Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE)
• Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Administrator (PCNSA)
• Palo Alto Networks Systems Engineer (PSE) Foundation
• PSE Strata Professional
• PSE Prisma Access Professional
• Cortex XDR / Cortex XSOAR certifications (Preferred)

Professional Skills

• Excellent presentation and communication skills.
• Ability to explain complex cybersecurity concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong customer-facing and partner engagement skills.
• Experience working in a distribution or channel-driven environment.
• Ability to manage multiple opportunities simultaneously.
• Self-motivated with strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.

Experience Requirements

• 3–5 years of experience in:
  • Technical Pre-Sales
  • Solution Engineering
  • Network Security Consulting
  • Cybersecurity Engineering
• Hands-on experience with:
  • Palo Alto Networks solutions
  • Enterprise firewalls
  • Network Security
  • Cloud Security
  • Endpoint Security
• Prior experience working with a distributor, system integrator, or value-added reseller (VAR) will be an added advantage.