VP, Customer Assurance & Critical Accounts (Cortex)

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!

We believe collaboration thrives in person. That’s why most of our teams work from the office full time, with flexibility when it’s needed. This model supports real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and the kind of precision that drives great outcomes.

Job Summary

Who We Are

We are the global cybersecurity leader, continuously innovating to stay ahead of cyber threats. Within our Cortex business unit, we deliver autonomous, AI-driven Security Operations solutions (Cloud, AgentiX, XDR, XSOAR, XSIAM) that protect the world's most critical organizations.

To maintain trust at scale, we are establishing a dedicated Critical Account Program (CAP) designed specifically for our enterprise cloud security portfolio. This team bridges complex engineering, product management, and field operations, serving as the ultimate executive escalation anchor for our highest-value enterprise accounts.

Your Career

As the VP, Customer Assurance & Critical Accounts (Cortex), you serve as the executive Incident Commander for high-stakes customer crises across North America and global markets. This role balances strategic oversight with direct action during severe account escalations.

You will step into complex, enterprise-level technical outages, engineering defects, and high-visibility security concerns at Global 2000 accounts. Operating with total composure under fire, you will engage directly with customer CISOs, CIOs, and SVPs to restore trust, drive technical resolution, and safeguard long-term enterprise relationships.

Your Impact

• Serve as Executive Incident Commander: Own high-stakes, Sev-1 enterprise account crises. Provide a steady, authoritative hand during major weekend/outage events, engineering defects, or complex deployments without escalating panic to executive leadership.

• CISO & Executive Relationship Management: Act as the direct executive liaison to CISOs, CIOs, and senior technology executives at Global 2000 accounts, translating technical remediation efforts into clear, strategic business confidence.

• Architect the Critical Account Program (CAP): Build a proactive, cloud-centric escalation and account-risk framework tailored for Cortex products.

• Drive AI-First Operational Scale: Lead with an AI-first approach to transform customer assurance, using predictive automation and modern diagnostics to optimize root-cause analysis, streamline critical incident response, and scale operational efficiency. 

• Bridge Engineering & Field Operations: Partner with Engineering, Product Management, Cloud Operations, DevOps and Support to remove blockers, identify systemic issues, complete root-cause reviews and ensure corrective and preventive actions are carried through to closure.

• Exercise Commercial & Strategic Judgment: Balance customer satisfaction with business priorities—navigating complex renewals, churn risk, concessions, and roadmap commitments while minimizing legal and reputational exposure.

• Drive Next-Gen Operational Innovation: Champion the integration of AI capabilities and automated AIOps workflows into escalation workflows, and proactive account-risk mechanisms.

Qualifications

What You Bring 

• Command Under Pressure: A proven track record as an authoritative, unflappable leader in high-stress crisis environments who instills immediate confidence in external executive stakeholders and internal product engineering teams.

• Technical Depth & Domain Acumen: Sufficient technical depth in cloud architecture, enterprise SaaS, and security ecosystems to "talk the talk" with Engineering VPs, articulate complex technical direction, and challenge internal engineering assumptions when needed.

• Executive Gravitas: Outstanding communication and negotiation skills with the presence to engage directly with C-level executives (CISOs, CIOs, CTOs) at enterprise organizations.

• AI-First Leadership: An AI-first leader who leverages automation, generative AI, and AIOps tools to scale customer assurance operations—streamlining complex technical diagnostics, accelerating critical account resolution, and proactively predicting enterprise account risk.

• Commercial Mindset: Strong business acumen to manage commercial concessions, renewal risks, legal risk mitigation, and strategic roadmap commitments seamlessly during a crisis.

• Strategic Growth Mindset: Comfort operating initially as a high-visibility, high-impact Executive IC with the strategic vision and leadership maturity to scale and lead a world-class team over time.

Your Experience

• 15+ years of progressive experience in enterprise technology, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, or complex enterprise SaaS environments.

• 5+ years in senior executive leadership (Director, Senior Director, or VP level) overseeing global escalation, premium support, technical account management, or customer reliability functions.

• Proven experience personally leading high-profile, Sev-1 enterprise crises involving engineering defects, cloud outages, security concerns, or complex deployment failures for Global 2000 accounts.

• Track record of building or transforming Critical Account Programs (CAP), proactive account-risk monitoring mechanisms, or executive customer assurance frameworks.

• Experience engaging and negotiating directly with CISOs, CIOs, and senior technology leaders on complex commercial, technical, and operational issues.

• Demonstrated history of implementing AI/AIOps technology or automated diagnostic frameworks to drive operational scale in support, engineering, or escalation management environments.

• Background in leading or collaborating with cross-functional teams spanning Cloud/SaaS Engineering, Product Operations, DevOps, and Executive Leadership.

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/com-missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

$253,000.00 - $367,500.00/yr

Our Commitment

We’re trailblazers that dream big, 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.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship?: Yes