Sr. Product Manager; PAN-OS Product Security and Lifecycle Management

Job Summary

Palo Alto Networks is seeking a Sr. Product Manager to join our world‑class product management organization. This high‑visibility role will be instrumental in defining and executing both the product security and lifecycle strategy for PAN-OS
, the core operating system that powers our next‑generation firewalls (NGFW) across physical, virtual, and cloud‑delivered form factors.

You will play a pivotal role in radically transforming how customers manage, upgrade, and secure our Strata network security platform. This position is ideal for a hands‑on leader who is passionate about solving complex operational challenges, embedding "secure-by-design" principles into platform architecture, and driving the success of our company’s platformization journey.

• Own the Platform Security
  
  Roadmap:
  
  Drive the comprehensive security roadmap for the PAN-OS platform across all deployment form factors within the Strata network security portfolio.
• Mitigate Emerging AI Threats: Proactively define defense strategies and product security roadmaps against existing and emerging vulnerabilities, including advanced threats posed by frontier AI models.
• Embed Secure-by-Design Principles: Collaborate closely with cross‑functional engineering and central security teams to seamlessly build security into the foundation of the product lifecycle rather than treating it as an afterthought.
• Balance Security with Usability: Champion the critical balance between rigorous defense mechanisms and end‑user experience, ensuring hardened security controls do not compromise operational usability.

• Lead PAN-OS Lifecycle Governance: Own the end‑to‑end lifecycle, including upgrade management, version adoption, End-of-Life (EoL) strategies, and core manageability metrics.
• Transform the Upgrade and Patching
  
  Experience:
  
  Partner with engineering and management software teams (Panorama, Strata Cloud Manager) to streamline, automate, and accelerate patching and software upgrades.
• Optimize Reliability & Defect Reduction: Develop proactive strategies to ensure upgrades are seamless, predictable, and non‑disruptive, directly reducing customer-found defects and driving down high/critical CVEs.
• Enhance Operational Experience & Support: Implement a "shift-left" approach by providing customers and field teams with tools and telemetry insights that empower them to maintain a healthy, secure fleet and resolve issues faster.

• Experience: 5+ years of experience in a highly technical role such as software development, product security, release management, or systems engineering.
• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

• Core Security Concepts: Strong threat modeling, encryption standards, identity and access management (IAM), and role‑based access control (RBAC).
• Secure Development & Vulnerability Management: Direct experience with Secure-by-Design frameworks, Secure Development Lifecycle practices, and application security tooling (SAST/DAST).
• Linux Infrastructure: Deep knowledge of Linux system architecture and security hardening mechanisms such as secure boot, SELinux, and Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA).
• AI & Frontier Models (Desired): Familiarity or hands‑on experience leveraging or defending against frontier cybersecurity AI models (e.g., Claude Mythos, OpenAI Codex).
• Vulnerability Management: Experience with vulnerability management, severity prioritization, and working with threat researchers.

• Enterprise Operations: Strong operational experience managing large‑scale network appliance systems or enterprise software deployment and upgrade cycles.
• Network Security Architecture: Experience in enterprise networking and firewall technology.

• Proven ability to interface effectively and build consensus across engineering, internal security teams, field organizations, and enterprise customers.
• Strong cross‑functional leadership skills…