AI Strategic Partnerships Business Development

Palo Alto Networks is a cybersecurity company dedicated to protecting the digital way of life. They are seeking an AI Strategic Partnerships Business Development Manager or Senior Manager to drive the commercial expansion of the Prisma AIRS portfolio through high-impact partnerships with Global System Integrators, management consulting firms, and technology ISVs.

Responsibilities:

• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Comfortable using AI tools to accelerate research, drafting, and analysis - and critically, able to identify and correct AI-generated errors, hallucinations, and low-quality outputs before they reach partners or leadership

Requirements:

• Experience: 8+ years of experience in strategic business development, partnerships, management consulting, or a combination - with a track record of closing complex, multi-stakeholder commercial agreements
• Business Modeling & Financial Analysis: Demonstrated ability to size markets, build financial models, develop pricing frameworks, and construct executive-quality business cases. Comfortable owning quantitative analysis end-to-end
• Negotiation & Deal Closure: Proven track record of negotiating and closing partnership agreements with senior stakeholders, navigating commercial, legal, and technical trade-offs to reach signed outcomes
• Consulting Background: Experience in management consulting or a consulting-adjacent role — bringing structured problem-solving, rigorous communication standards, and the ability to operate with ambiguity
• Technical Literacy: Sufficient technical understanding to translate AI and cybersecurity technology value propositions into business terms, engage meaningfully with partner technical teams, and evaluate integration feasibility
• Slide & Communication Craft: Strong ability to build clean, structured, persuasive slides and written materials for executive audiences. Hands-on - you build the materials yourself
• Cross-Functional Influence: Experience working across marketing, finance, legal, and technology functions to align on and execute complex partnership deals. Able to move quickly without losing stakeholder alignment
• AI Proficiency: Actively uses AI tools to improve productivity and output quality. Critically, understands the limitations of AI-generated content and knows how to identify, correct, and prevent low-quality outputs
• Partner Ecosystem Knowledge: Understanding of how GSIs, management consulting firms, and technology ISVs operate, sell, and build - and how to structure partnerships that create value within their business models
• GSI & Consulting Sector Depth: Direct experience working at or extensively with major GSIs or top-tier management consulting firms, with a clear understanding of their practice economics, delivery models, and partner procurement processes
• Cybersecurity or AI Domain Knowledge: Prior experience in cybersecurity, AI infrastructure, or enterprise software partnerships. Familiarity with Prisma AIRS, NGFW, or CDSS is a meaningful differentiator
• ISV & Marketplace Experience: Experience structuring ISV partnerships, OEM agreements, or cloud marketplace listings as a vehicle for commercial scale
• Product Management Exposure: Prior experience in or alongside product management, enabling strong alignment with product strategy and roadmap conversations