Finance Business Manager - Strategic Finance

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!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Your Career

Palo Alto Networks is looking for an experienced finance professional to join the team as a Finance Manager, Strategic Finance. We’re looking for someone with a deep analytical mindset and a strong corporate finance foundation, ideally with experience in FP&A, investment banking, or equity research. This role is for a self-starter and great communicator who is passionate about using financial analysis to frame and influence long-term business strategy in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

This role will be a critical partner to our executive team, responsible for providing in-depth financial analysis and insights on long-range planning, competitive positioning, and capital allocation strategies. You will play a key role in shaping the financial narrative of the company and translating complex market dynamics into actionable business intelligence.

Your Impact

• Develop and manage our long-range 3-statement financial model, ensuring it is updated quarterly with the latest forecasts and strategic inputs.

• Conduct and maintain in-depth competitive benchmarking and analysis on a quarterly basis, providing insights on peer performance, industry trends, and valuation.

• Prepare and update discussion materials for the executive team on key strategic topics, including Total Shareholder Return (TSR) analysis and capital allocation decisions like share repurchases.

• Support the Investor Relations team by handling bespoke analytical requests and providing financial models to address inquiries from the investment community.

• Partner with Corporate FP&A, Accounting, and other cross-functional teams to gather data and ensure alignment on all financial models and analysis.

Your Experience 

• Bachelor's degree in Economics, Business, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent military experience required.

• 3-5+ years of related experience in finance; prior experience in Corporate FP&A, investment banking, or equity research is strongly preferred.

• Exceptional financial modeling skills with a deep understanding of how to build and maintain a 3-statement financial model from scratch.

• Proven ability to conduct in-depth competitive analysis, peer benchmarking, and valuation analysis.

• Familiarity with managing large datasets and deriving executive-level insights; experience with capital allocation and shareholder return metrics is a plus.

• Ability to link the big-picture strategic questions to the granular details of a financial model.

• Strong team player with excellent communication and presentation skills, comfortable interacting with senior leadership.

• Willingness and ability to adapt to the rapid business and organizational changes that accompany a high-growth environment.

• Strong experience with Excel and G-Suite is required; experience with tools like SAP, Tableau, or Pigment is a plus.

The Team

You have a passion for numbers, and our organization has a real passion for cybersecurity. You’re looking for a career with a more fulfilling mission. We have open positions for top talent seeking a financial challenge. Our finance department deals with numbers daily, supporting infrastructure, dealing in automation, and building elegant models and solutions to empower our business lines and solutions. If you’re seeking a financial challenge with a worldwide impact, this is it.

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 $120,000 - $153,000/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus (12%). 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.