Senior Consulting Director, Soc Advisory, Proactive Services (Unit 42)

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 take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

Your Career

As a Senior Consulting Director within Unit 42’s Cyber Risk Management team, you will lead our Security Operations Center (SOC) Assessment offering and own the delivery success of the service line in North America. This includes overseeing a high-performing team of consultants delivering these critical capabilities, maintaining delivery quality, driving revenue and utilization, supporting business development, and advancing service innovation. Working closely with the Managing Director and CRM NAM Practice leader, along with peers in North America and other theaters and regions, you will provide executive oversight and strategic direction for how we evaluate, mature, and optimize security operations through our assessments across our client base — driving greater security outcomes, product integration, and transformation at scale.

In this strategic leadership role, you will serve as the executive sponsor on key engagements, guide a high-performing team of Directors and consultants, and partner across Unit 42 and Palo Alto Networks to refine services, contribute to thought leadership, and elevate SOC capabilities across industries. You will be responsible for setting and achieving service line KPIs, including delivery excellence, customer satisfaction, and introducing Palo Alto Networks’ products as solutions to risks identified during engagements.
 

This role requires deep expertise in SOC operations and consulting, experience managing delivery teams, and the ability to influence both internal and external stakeholders. You will work cross-functionally with sales, product, service innovation and marketing teams to evolve and scale Unit 42’s SOC capabilities, integrating best practices and Palo Alto Networks product offerings.

Your Impact

• Provide strategic leadership and vision for Unit 42’s global SOC Assessment services, ensuring alignment with organizational goals, customer needs, and emerging threat trends
• Own and drive success across all SOC Assessment service line KPIs, including revenue growth, delivery excellence, utilization, customer satisfaction, and Security Transformation Program (STP) contribution
• Lead the continual maturation and innovation of SOC Assessment methodologies, deliverables, and tooling by integrating industry best practices, threat intelligence, and customer feedback
• Serve as the executive sponsor, strategic advisor and delivery lead for complex, high-impact SOC engagements, ensuring delivery quality, client satisfaction, and long-term value realization
• Deliver strategic guidance to CISOs, CTOs, and executive stakeholders on optimizing detection, response, and security operations capabilities across hybrid and cloud environments
• Embed Palo Alto Networks technologies such as Cortex XDR, XSIAM, and XSOAR into assessment and transformation engagements to drive measurable security outcomes
• Own delivery staffing and capacity planning to ensure the right mix of talent, availability, and expertise across concurrent engagements
• Lead and mentor a high-performing team of Directors and consultants, fostering career growth, technical depth, and leadership capability
• Collaborate with GTM teams to shape messaging, identify new opportunities, and support the successful closing of SOC Assessment engagements through solutioning and executive engagement
• Lead and contribute to complex scoping and quoting efforts, ensuring accurate effort estimates, appropriate resourcing, and alignment to customer goals
• Build and nurture trusted advisor relationships with key customers, especially Unit 42 retainer accounts, to drive repeat business and long-term strategic value
• Represent Unit 42 as a SOC subject matter expert at key industry events, roundtables, webinars, and forums to enhance thought leadership and market credibility
• Author and contribute to whitepapers, blogs, and internal enablement materials to advance the team’s knowledge and influence in the SOC domain
• Champion a culture of excellence, innovation, and collaboration, fostering a positive and inclusive environment that attracts, retains, and develops top talent
• Act as the internal voice of the SOC Assessment service line, collaborating across product, sales, and delivery teams to influence service roadmap, product alignment, and market positioning
• Continuously monitor the evolving security operations landscape, including adversary techniques, SOC tooling trends, and customer challenges, to evolve service offerings and maintain relevance

Your Experience 

• 10+ years of experience in cybersecurity, with 5+ years leading SOC-related services or operations (e.g. SOC transformation, SOC consulting, etc)
• 7+ years managing consulting delivery teams or security operations teams, ideally at the Director level or higher
• Deep understanding of SOC operations, detection and response workflows, SIEM/SOAR tooling, and threat-informed defense
• Experience conducting SOC assessments, maturity benchmarking, or blue team capability reviews
• Familiarity with relevant frameworks and standards (MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF, CIS Controls, etc.)
• Demonstrated success in building, leading, and scaling consulting services
• Strong executive presence and comfort engaging with CISOs, CTOs, and Boards
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a record of influencing clients and internal stakeholders
• Knowledge of Palo Alto Networks products (e.g. Cortex suite) and how they support best in class security operations
• Bachelor’s Degree required; Master’s Degree or cybersecurity certifications (CISSP, CISM, GIAC, etc.) or equivalent military experience required

The Team

Unit 42 Consulting is Palo Alto Network's security advisory team.  Our vision is to create a more secure digital world by providing the highest quality incident response, risk management, and digital forensic services to clients of all sizes. Our team is composed of recognized experts and incident responders with deep technical expertise and experience in investigations, data breach response, digital forensics, and information security. With a highly successful track record of delivering mission-critical cybersecurity solutions, we are experienced in working quickly to provide an effective incident response, attack readiness, and remediation plans with a focus on providing long-term support to improve our clients’ security posture. 

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary + commission target (for sales/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $236000/YR - $275000/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

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.