As the Director of AI Specialist, you will build, scale, and lead an elite team of Principal Individual Contributors and AI Security Specialists. Reporting directly to the Global VP, you will bridge the gap between cutting-edge AI innovation, enterprise security, and aggressive revenue growth. Your mission: blend the agility of a startup with Zscaler's world-leading scale to 3X our team revenue. If you are a technical leader and a master storyteller who commands the boardroom, this is your chance to lead the industry's most critical conversation.
What You'll Do

• Scale the AI Technical Strategy: Partner with global sales leadership to own the technical GTM strategy and drive complex, high-value AI security opportunities from discovery to close.
• Lead & Co-Elevate Elite Talent: Recruit, mentor, and build a world-class team of high-performing Principal AI Security Specialists, fostering a culture of extreme ownership.
• Build Repeatable GTM Playbooks: Translate field-tested technical wins into standardized Proof of Value (POV) frameworks, reusable demo assets, and global sales enablement playbooks.
• Act as Executive Sponsor: Serve as the trusted technical advisor for Fortune 500 C-level executives, helping them safely deploy modern AI patterns (RAG, agents, and prompt workflows).
• Bridge the Product-to-Field Loop: Synthesize real-world customer insights from the field to directly influence Product and Engineering roadmaps.

Who You Are

• You thrive in ambiguity: You don't wait for a playbook; you write it. You see a dynamic, shifting market as the raw material to build something meaningful.
• You act like an owner: You navigate seamlessly between high-level macro strategy and hands-on execution alongside your team.
• You are a high-trust collaborator: You give and receive ongoing feedback, knowing that clarity and mutual respect are the fastest ways to earn trust.
• You are customer-obsessed: You anchor your decisions in solving real-world enterprise problems, knowing their success dictates our scale.
• You are driven by innovation: You maintain a deep curiosity for how modern AI tech works and always look for a more secure, scalable way.

What We're Looking For

• 10+ Years in Solutions Engineering: A proven track record in enterprise technical sales, with at least 5 years of experience directly managing high-performing teams.
• Deep Fluency in Enterprise Security: Strong proficiency in public cloud architecture, Zero Trust architecture, data loss prevention (DLP), cloud-native security, and enterprise data flows.
• Expertise with Modern AI Patterns: Foundational understanding of LLMs, MCP, RAG, agentic architectures and orchestration patterns, plus the unique data security risks they introduce.
• Elite Executive Communication: Exceptional presentation skills with a demonstrated ability to execute value-based storytelling for Fortune 500 C-suite executives.
• Cross-Functional Mastery: Proven success collaborating with Product, Engineering, and GTM leadership to refine core sales engineering processes.
• Willingness to Travel: Ability to travel up to 40% to support field teams and engage directly with strategic accounts.

Preferred Qualifications

• Incubation or Startup Background: Success leading a technical sales team for an early-stage product line or incubation team within a larger technology company.
• Advanced AI Risk Expertise: Direct experience helping enterprises navigate model governance, compliance frameworks, and shadow AI usage.
• 0-to-1 Product Monetization: Proven success taking a brand-new, highly technical product line from incubation/initial launch to its first major revenue milestones (e.g., $10M+ ARR scaling)

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Zscaler's salary ranges are benchmarked and are determined by role and level. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations and could be higher or lower based on a multitude of factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

The base salary range listed for this full-time position excludes commission/ bonus/ equity (if applicable) + benefits.

Base Pay Range

$194,250-$277,500 USD

Our Benefits program is one of the most important ways we support our employees. Zscaler proudly offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families throughout their life stages, including:

• Various health plans
• Time off plans for vacation and sick time
• Parental leave options
• Retirement options
• Education reimbursement
• In-office perks, and more!

Learn more about Zscaler's hybrid working model and benefits here.