Professional Services Consultant - Cortex Cloud

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 Your Career As the Cortex Delivery Lead for Professional Services, you will be the operational engine that runs our consulting team. In this pivotal leadership role, you will own the day-to-day project operations, team cadence, and engagement frameworks that ensure our deployments across Cortex and Cortex Cloud—with a primary focus on Cortex XSIAM —are executed flawlessly. You will manage project staffing, oversee the delivery pipeline, and define how we "turn up" in front of enterprise customers. By taking ownership of project assignments, delivery standards, and operational escalations, you will ensure our consultants are effectively utilized, supported, and delivering a premium, consistent customer experience that aligns with Palo Alto Networks' best practices. Your Impact Drive Team Operations & Cadence: Run the daily/weekly operational cadence for the consulting team. Manage day-to-day activities to ensure strong team morale, high performance, and alignment with business objectives. Own Project Assignments & Resourcing: Analyze the incoming pipeline, understand consultant skillsets and capacity, and own the assignment of resources to projects (Cortex XSIAM, XDR, XSOAR, Cortex Cloud). Proactively manage billable utilization rates, mitigate burnout, and convert consultant downtime into focused strategic initiatives, training, and process uplifts. Define the Engagement Framework: Standardize and own the customer engagement lifecycle (kick-offs, project tracking, status reporting, and communication standards) to guarantee a premium delivery experience, especially for long-term XSIAM transformations. Lead Operational Escalations: Handle project delays, scoping adjustments, and operational customer escalations. Keep projects on track and unblock the team from administrative or scheduling hurdles. Foster Delivery Excellence: Work closely with technical leadership and management to ensure that operational frameworks support technical methodologies, driving continuous improvement in how we deliver Professional Services. Qualifications Your Experience Proven experience in a delivery management, practice lead, or senior project management role within an IT services, cybersecurity, or professional services organization. Exceptional operational leadership skills, with a strong background in resource management, capacity planning, and project staffing/utilization. Demonstrated ability to build and enforce engagement frameworks, standardized processes, and quality controls for professional services delivery teams. Strong customer-facing skills with the ability to manage expectations, navigate operational escalations, and communicate effectively with enterprise stakeholders. Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills, capable of managing multiple moving parts in a high-velocity deployment environment. High emotional intelligence and leadership capability to mentor, guide, and manage the day-to-day morale and performance of a consulting team. Familiarity with cybersecurity operations, SOC environments, or SIEM/Cloud Security deployments is highly desirable to understand the context of the team's work. 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 . 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? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.