Practice Architect - Capability Development

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!

This role is remote, but distance is no barrier to impact. Our hybrid teams collaborate across geographies to solve big problems, stay close to our customers, and grow together. You will be part of a culture that values trust, accountability, and shared success where your work truly matters.

Job Summary

Your Career

The Practice Architect – Capability Development (CD) will be a part of the Center of Excellence and is responsible for developing and advancing the technical and delivery capabilities of Professional Services, Customer Success, and strategic delivery partners across the Cortex & Cloud portfolio. This role ensures the field is prepared to successfully adopt new products, services, AI capabilities, automation, and delivery methodologies while continuously improving technical proficiency, consulting effectiveness, and delivery excellence.

Your Impact

• Develop and execute the capability development strategy and enablement programs for Professional Services, Customer Success, and strategic delivery partners across the Cortex & Cloud portfolio.
• Build scalable programs that continuously improve technical proficiency, delivery consistency, consultant readiness, and adoption of COE methodologies.
• Drive organizational readiness for new products, AI capabilities, automation initiatives, and service offerings.
• Establish long-term capability roadmaps aligned with business priorities and evolving customer needs.

Technical Enablement & Training

• Deliver hands-on technical enablement sessions, including workshops, labs, and real-world deployment scenarios.
• Conduct brown bag sessions, deep dives, and office hours to reinforce learning and address partner challenges.
• Develop role-based enablement paths for partner consultants, architects, and delivery leads.
• Lead technical workshops, boot camps, instructor-led training, hands-on labs, office hours, mentoring sessions, and knowledge-sharing forums.
• Support onboarding and continuous development of consultants throughout their career progression.

Strategic Field Engagement & Coaching

• Participate in strategic customer engagements, pilot deployments, and new service introductions where coaching and consultant development provide the greatest organizational value
• Mentor consultants during customer engagements to strengthen technical execution, consulting skills, and customer interaction.
• Identify opportunities to improve consultant effectiveness through real-world coaching and practical experience.
• Support strategic partners through co-delivery engagements, ensuring adherence to COE standards and best practices.
• Assess strageic partner capabilities and identify gaps in delivery execution, technical skills, or methodology adoption.
• Act as a technical advisor and escalation point for partners during active deployments

Capability Assessment & Organizational Readiness

• Define capability benchmarks and readiness criteria across the Cortex & Cloud portfolio.
• Assess technical, delivery, and consulting competencies across the organization.
• Identify skill gaps and develop targeted capability improvement plans.
• Partner with leadership to support certification planning, technical growth, and career development initiatives.
• Measure capability progression through technical assessments, certifications, delivery quality, and field performance.

Knowledge Management & Learning Assets

• Develop and maintain reusable capability development assets, including
  • Technical workshops
  • Hands-on labs
  • Technical demonstrations
  • Recorded learning sessions
  • Best practice guides
  • Knowledge articles
  • Quick reference materials
  • Learning modules
• Continuously evolve capability content based on customer feedback, field observations, emerging technologies, and COE priorities.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with Professional Services, Customer Success, Product Management, Engineering, Sales, Enablement, and strategic partners.
• Act as a trusted advisor to field teams by providing technical guidance, mentoring, and coaching.
• Provide ongoing field insights that influence future capability development priorities, service evolution, and product improvements.
• Work closely with Practice Architects (TA, DA, PE) to ensure enablement reflects current standards and capabilities.
• Provide feedback into COE on partner readiness, common challenges, and opportunities for improvement.

Ownership & Decision Rights

Owns:

• Capability development strategy
• Consultant capability framework
• Partner capability framework
• Technical mentoring programs
• Technical workshops, boot camps, and labs
• Capability assessments
• Knowledge management assets
• Technical coaching initiatives
• Strategic partner delivery quality reinforcement (via enablement and guidance)

Influences:

• Consultant technical maturity
• Partner delivery readiness
• Adoption of COE methodologies
• Product and service adoption
• Delivery quality through improved organizational capability
• Technical certification strategy
• Future capability investments
• Partner delivery models (co-delivery, independent delivery)
  

Qualifications

Your Experience

• Extensive experience delivering enterprise security solutions within Professional Services.
• Deep expertise across Cortex technologies (XSIAM, XSOAR, Cortex XDR) and/or Cortex/Prisma Cloud.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring, coaching, and developing technical professionals.
• Experience designing and delivering technical learning programs, workshops, labs, or capability development initiatives.
• Strong customer facing consulting experience with the ability to coach through real-world engagements.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, presentation, and influencing skills.
• Proven ability to work effectively across cross-functional organizations without direct authority.
• Experience collaborating with Professional Services, Customer Success, Product Management, Engineering, Sales, and partner organizations.

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  accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com.

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.