Director, People Strategy

Overview

The description describes the mission and culture of Palo Alto Networks and the role of Director, People Strategy. It outlines the team structure, alignment with enterprise priorities, and the focus on shaping the People function to drive transformation and business outcomes.

Location, compensation details, and equal opportunity statements are included alongside information about accommodations and sponsorship eligibility.

Your Career

As the Director, People Strategy you will serve as a strategic advisor and thought partner to the Chief People Officer and the People Leadership Team (PLT). This role centers on how the People organization plans, measures, and communicates impact. You will architect frameworks that translate the People vision into actionable strategies, clear metrics, and compelling Board-level narratives.

Your Impact

1. Strategic Partner to the CPO

Partner with the CPO to develop, evolve, and operationalize the multi-year People Strategy, ensuring alignment with enterprise priorities and transformation objectives.

Act as a connector and integrator across all People sub-functions, including Talent, Total Rewards, DEI, Learning, HR Tech, and Places, bringing cohesion and clarity to the collective strategy.

Support the PLT in setting and prioritizing strategic initiatives that enable scale, impact, and transformation.

2. Strategic Planning & KPI Governance

Lead the People Team’s strategic planning and goal-setting process, ensuring tight alignment with company-level OKRs.

Develop and maintain a People Strategy Dashboard that tracks performance against key enterprise and People metrics, including leadership confidence, engagement, performance differentiation, and efficiency.

Drive accountability by ensuring the PLT measures what matters, reports outcomes consistently, and uses data to guide decision-making.

3. Transformation Design & Strategic Governance

Structure and frame People-related transformation initiatives.

Provide strategic scaffolding and governance models for initiatives led across the People function, ensuring alignment, sequencing, and clarity of ownership.

Serve as the strategic interface between the People Team and Corp Strategy and or other Transformation Offices to ensure synchronization of priorities.

4. Executive and Board Communications

Lead the creation of executive and Board-facing communications that articulate the People Strategy and progress against key priorities.

Develop clear, data-driven narratives and materials for Board updates, executive off-sites, and quarterly business reviews, reflecting the strategic maturity of the People function.

Translate analytics and insights into concise, compelling stories that demonstrate organizational impact, transformation outcomes, and future priorities.

5. Research, Benchmarking & Strategic Insight

Conduct market and best-practice research across high-growth and technology peers to inform the evolution of Palo Alto Networks’ People Strategy.

Act as the internal strategist who anticipates talent and organizational needs based on external trends and internal data.

Qualifications

Your Experience

8–12 years of experience in People Strategy, Corporate Strategy, or Management Consulting, ideally within a high-growth or technology environment.

Demonstrated success in strategy development, organizational design, and enterprise planning at scale.

Strong analytical and conceptual skills; able to integrate data, insight, and storytelling into actionable strategies.

Exceptional communication and presentation capability, with experience preparing materials for senior executives and Boards of Directors.

Proven ability to influence and align cross-functional senior stakeholders without direct authority.

High learning agility, intellectual curiosity, and comfort operating in fast-moving, high-ambiguity environments.

Additional Information

The Team

The People Team at Palo Alto Networks enables the company to transform, scale, and perform. We connect purpose, performance, and productivity through strategic insight and disciplined design.

You’ll join a team that acts as the strategic architect of the company’s future, translating people insights into business outcomes and ensuring every transformation starts with talent, culture, and leadership.

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 $218,600 - $299,925 / 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 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.

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