AI Strategic Partnerships Business Development
Job Summary
This position can be remote anywhere in the US with a preference in Santa Clara, Plano, Reston, or New York. This is not a traditional business development or alliances role. You will be a strategic business developer who sits at the intersection of AI security, partner ecosystems, and business model innovation.
Three Things Set This Role Apart
Commercial Rigor: You bring genuine business modeling, pricing strategy, and opportunity sizing skills - you can build a model, stress-test it, and present it to a Business leader.
Partner Ecosystem Depth: You understand how GSIs, management consulting firms, and technology ISVs think, sell, and build - and you know how to structure agreements that create durable, mutual value.
Technical Credibility: You can translate a technology value proposition into a business value proposition, engage a CTO in a meaningful architecture conversation.
Key Responsibilities
Use Case Development & Opportunity Identification
Identify, develop, and document compelling use cases for Prisma AIRS across GSI, consulting, and ISV partner contexts - covering AI model security, agent security, runtime protection, and red teaming.
Rigorously size partnership opportunities using market data, customer segmentation, and partner revenue analysis. Build credible models that withstand scrutiny from finance and executive leadership.
Stay ahead of developments in AI infrastructure, agentic systems, and enterprise AI adoption to identify where new use cases and partnership opportunities are emerging before they become obvious.
Actively experiment with new use case hypotheses - engaging partners in structured pilots and POCs - to validate commercial potential before committing to full partnership structures.
Business Modeling, Pricing & Business Case Development
Develop and evaluate partnership business models - including resell, co-sell, embedded OEM, and managed service structures - that align partner incentives with Prisma AIRS growth objectives.
Define pricing frameworks, discount structures, and revenue-sharing models for partner-led AIRS offerings. Ensure commercial terms are competitive, scalable, and operationally viable.
Build compelling, data-driven business cases for partnership investments - covering market opportunity, revenue potential, cost to serve, and strategic rationale - tailored for both internal approval and partner alignment.
Construct detailed financial models that project partnership revenue, partner economics, and return on investment across different growth scenarios. Comfortable owning a model end-to-end.
Partnership Negotiation & Agreement Closure
Drive partnership engagements from initial outreach through signed agreement - owning the commercial narrative, managing partner stakeholders, and keeping momentum through complexity.
Lead commercial negotiations with senior partner stakeholders including Heads of Alliances, Chiefs of Strategy, and General Counsel. Skilled at finding creative paths to agreement without sacrificing strategic value.
Work closely with marketing, finance, legal, and technology teams at Palo Alto Networks to align on deal structure, approval, and execution. Able to move quickly across functions without losing the thread.
Build and sustain senior relationships across partner organizations — engaging marketing, finance, legal, and technology leaders as peers. Comfortable in the room with executives and able to earn trust through substance.
Partner Offering Development & Go-to-Market Closing
Co-develop partner-specific Prisma AIRS offerings - defining the service scope, packaging, pricing, and value proposition - tailored to how each partner type (GSI, consulting firm, ISV) goes to market.
Build and execute joint go-to-market plans with partners, including co-marketing commitments, sales enablement, pipeline targets, and customer success milestones.
Develop partner-facing commercial materials - business value slides, ROI frameworks, pricing summaries, and solution briefs - that equip partner sales and consulting teams to position Prisma AIRS effectively.
Support partners in customer-facing settings - from executive briefings to commercial conversations - helping to close lighthouse deals that serve as the proof points for broader partner adoption.
Communication, Slide Craft & Executive Influence
Business Value Storytelling: Build slides and written materials that make complex technology and commercial propositions immediately accessible to business audiences. Comfortable distilling a nuanced argument to a single clear page.
Dual-Audience Communication: Able to move fluidly between technical and business audiences - presenting an architecture diagram to a partner CTO and a revenue model to a partner CFO in the same day, adjusting register and depth accordingly.
Executive Presence: Communicate with senior stakeholders - internally across marketing, finance, legal, and technology, and externally at partner organizations - with the gravitas and clarity expected at the VP and C-suite level.
Partner Ecosystem Knowledge
Understanding of how GSIs (Deloitte, Cognizant, NTT, Wipro) build practices and sell to enterprise customers.
Familiarity with management consulting firm structures and how they develop and monetize AI offerings.
Understanding of ISV go-to-market models including OEM, marketplace, and embedded integration patterns.