Senior R&D Operations Manager

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.
Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

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.

Your Career

Are you a results-driven, exceptional communicator with a passion for transforming critical, high-stakes customer issues into positive outcomes and strategic insights? Do you thrive in a fast-paced environment, acting as the central nexus connecting R&D to the entire customer-facing organization? Are you the operational leader ready to design and embed the critical internal workflows that ensure engineering teams collaborate seamlessly and efficiently on high-priority escalations AND ongoing day-to-day operational tasks?

Join our R&D Operations Team as the R&D Senior Operations Manager. You will serve as the primary communication and prioritization hub for your designated region, owning the end-to-end management of the most complex and business-critical issues—from pre-sales Proof of Value (POV) support through post-sale deployment and ongoing crisis management. Your mission is to ensure R&D resources are optimally utilized, aligning their efforts with the highest-impact customer needs and strategic business opportunities, and to define the operational processes that make this alignment possible across various engineering groups. You will be the operational leader responsible for designing, implementing, and enforcing the standard workflows that govern how R&D teams collaborate on both day-to-day tasks and critical escalations. This role is instrumental in cultivating a customer-first culture within R&D, directly enhancing customer satisfaction, retention, and time-to-value.

Your Impact

• Serve as the single-threaded owner for all critical R&D workstreams in your region, directly influencing customer service delivery quality and Domain Consultants (presale) enablement.
• Manage the global Jira priority queue, applying a clear severity and business-impact framework to ensure engineering capacity is focused on the highest-value issues.
• Translate customer-facing and business priorities—such as POVs, high-severity cases, and strategic asks—into well-scoped, actionable R&D tasks.
• Define, implement, and continuously optimize cross-group workflows to improve execution quality, streamline handoffs, and drive operational efficiency across engineering teams.
• Lead communication for executive escalations and major “get well” plans, articulating complex technical challenges through clear, timely, and professional updates.
• Establish, track, and report SLAs and KPIs for critical issues to strengthen predictability, reduce TTR, and reinforce accountability across R&D and support stakeholders.

Your Experience 

• Crisis Management: Experience managing high-visibility, complex escalations with strong coordination and communication control.
• Customer-Facing Background: Technical support, customer success, professional services, or solutions consulting experience preferred.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Ability to drive alignment and prioritization across R&D and engineering teams without direct authority.
• Strategic Communication: Excellent written and verbal skills, capable of translating complex technical topics for executive audiences.
• Process Definition: Experience designing operational frameworks, defining metrics, SLAs, and KPIs, especially around support and engineering efficiency.
• Workflow Optimization: Proficiency with tools like Jira, GitLab, and BI systems to analyze bottlenecks and improve engineering processes.
• Stakeholder Management: Skilled in balancing competing demands across Sales, Product, Engineering, and Support based on business impact.
• Technical Fluency: Ability to rapidly understand technical concepts and accurately represent issue status to internal and external audiences.
• Performance Management: Experience defining and tracking engineering performance metrics (e.g., backlog aging, MTTR) and partnering with teams to improve long-tail issues and overall technical proficiency.

The Team

Our engineering team is at the core of our products and connected directly to the mission of preventing cyberattacks. We are constantly innovating — challenging the way we, and the industry, think about cybersecurity. Our engineers don’t shy away from building products to solve problems no one has pursued before.

We define the industry instead of waiting for directions. We need individuals who feel comfortable in ambiguity, excited by the prospect of a challenge, and empowered by the unknown risks facing our everyday lives that are only enabled by a secure digital environment.

#LI-HS4

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that 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  [email protected].

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.