District Systems Engineer

About Us

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. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have.

Our culture values trust, accountability, and shared success where your work truly matters. This role is remote, enabling collaboration across geographies to solve big problems, stay close to our customers, and grow together.

About the Role

The District Systems Engineer, Commercial, is a vital part of our sales team, serving as a trusted technical advisor to customers and helping them secure their businesses with Palo Alto Networks solutions. You will provide pre-sales technical support to our commercial sales teams, aligning security solutions with customer needs and ensuring successful deployments that drive adoption and business value.

As a District Systems Engineer, you will work with customers to understand their security challenges, architect solutions that address those challenges, and demonstrate the value of Palo Alto Networks' comprehensive cybersecurity platform. You will drive technical wins and ensure the continued satisfaction of our customers in the commercial sector.

Responsibilities

• Partner with sales teams to meet and exceed sales quotas by building and implementing strategic technical account plans.
• Position, demonstrate, and design security architectures across the Palo Alto Networks portfolio based on customer business needs, including network security, security operations, and cloud security.
• Drive customer adoption of the Palo Alto Networks security platform by helping customers achieve enhanced security, operational efficiency, and business flexibility.
• Conduct technical discovery to understand customer requirements and align solutions to their specific needs.
• Lead proof-of-concept (PoC) engagements, technical workshops, and product demonstrations to showcase the capabilities of our security platform.
• Collaborate with Professional Services, Customer Success, and Specialist teams to ensure seamless implementation and adoption of solutions.
• Effectively communicate complex security concepts to a variety of stakeholders, from technical practitioners to executive leadership.
• Orchestrate supporting resources (Specialists, Channel Partners, Customer Support) to drive a unified strategy for customer success.
• Promote end-to-end security solutions, including Palo Alto Networks and partner professional services, to maximize customer security posture and business value.
• Stay ahead of industry trends, competitive landscapes, and emerging security threats to position Palo Alto Networks as the cybersecurity leader.
• Continuously invest in personal development to enhance technical expertise and professional skills while actively contributing to the District Systems Engineer community and industry events.
• Demonstrate diversity in technical knowledge across SOC, Cloud, Networking, and NetSec, with an emphasis on SOC and Cloud, to drive cross-training and develop platform expertise across the team.
• Become a technical leader with the desire to grow into a Palo Alto Networks portfolio architect, gaining expertise from NGFW to SASE, SOC, Cloud, and Unit 42 consulting services.
• Balance technical acumen with strategic thinking—acting as one part technical architect and one part CTO.
• Build and maintain strong relationships while demonstrating strong consulting skills.
• Understand the competitive landscape deeply, at least in your area of specialty.
• Design and architect large, complex environments, leveraging expertise in your technical domain.
• Develop strong business acumen with near-term potential to grow into CTO/CIO/CISO-level leadership.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% within the assigned district.
• Serve as a role model and mentor for inside Systems Engineers.

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in pre-sales/sales engineering and/or completion of the SC Academy.
• Understanding of data networking, security architectures, and modern cloud computing environments.
• Experience in delivering cybersecurity solutions that solve technical challenges and influence new business initiatives is preferred.
• Influencing and gaining buy-in from key stakeholders, either in a customer-facing or internal role; prior experience in a pre-sales role is ideal.
• Creating and delivering technical presentations, workshops, or technical validation engagements.
• Experience in selling, designing, implementing, or managing one or more of the following solutions: Network Security, SASE, SaaS, CNAPP, and/or SOC Transformation Technologies.
• Partnering with Customer Support functions to ensure successful implementation and adoption of sold solutions.
• Experience in complex sales involving long sales processes with multiple buying centers and multi-product solutions is preferred.
• Proficient in English.

This is a field sales position where travel may be required to support in-person customer meetings.

Pay

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 in the range of $173,000.00 - $237,500/yr. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus.

Benefits

A description of our employee benefits may be found here.