Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) accelerates digital transformation so customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Distributed across 200+ public data centers globally and thousands of private sites at the edge, the SASE-based Zero Trust Exchange is the world’s largest in-line cloud security platform.

We believe the future of work is Human + AI and are building an AI-native enterprise where human potential is amplified by machine intelligence to solve the world’s hardest security challenges. Driven by deep customer obsession, we are committed to the mission, outcome, and to each other. We bring these commitments to life through three core behaviors: ownership and collaboration, trust through outcomes and impact, and a challenge culture with ongoing feedback. Ready to make an impact at the company pioneering security transformation in the AI era? Join us at Zscaler.

About the Role

As the Senior Systems Engineering Director (Senior SED) for Majors, you will lead the pre-sales engineering organization across our highest-revenue majors accounts. You are a second-line leader responsible for managing first-line Systems Engineering Directors (SEDs), Principal Architects, and senior Individual Contributors.

Partnering directly with Area Vice Presidents (AVPs) of Sales, you will own technical go-to-market execution, capacity planning, and technical win rates across the region. You will move the team beyond reactive technical demonstrations and open-ended POCs into a disciplined engineering motion: validating deals against clear C-level business metrics, generating technical pipeline, and scaling practical AI workflows across the field.

Key Responsibilities

1. Regional GTM Strategy & Capacity Governance

Partner with Regional Sales VPs on quarterly territory reviews, account tiering, and technical coverage planning.
Balance and govern SE team capacity across accounts, setting clear criteria to allocate engineering resources where win probability and deal value are highest.
Manage second-line operational metrics: technical win rates, POV cycle times, and resource utilization across the region.

2. Proof-of-Value (POV) Governance & Deal Execution

Enforce clear entry and exit criteria for all customer evaluations, requiring documented executive business goals and CISO/CIO alignment before committing technical resources.
Hold SE Directors and Managers accountable for operational rigor: tracking 30-day technical validation milestones, maintaining shared customer war rooms, and preventing scope creep.
Act as executive technical sponsor on flagship deals, partnering with account teams during late-stage negotiations and high-stakes executive playbacks.

3. SE Pipeline Generation (SE PG) & Account Expansion

Drive a culture of technical pipeline generation, leading teams to proactively uncover new expansion opportunities through architectural reviews, zero trust maturity workshops, and executive threat briefings.
Partner with Customer Success and Professional Services to identify expansion paths within existing Major accounts and protect renewal health.

4. People Leadership & Workforce Development

Hire, develop, and retain high-performing SE Directors, SE Managers, Principal Architects, and Senior SEs.
Drive structured performance management, succession planning, and leadership development across your management layer.
Foster a high-accountability, collaborative engineering culture aligned with our core values: Communicate. Collaborate. Continuously Improve.

5. Cross-Functional Product Feedback Loop

Run regular field retrospectives to synthesize product gaps, competitive threats, and integration bottlenecks encountered during POVs.
Deliver structured, data-backed telemetry to Product Management and Engineering leadership to prioritize roadmap decisions that directly unblock revenue.

Senior Director, Sales Engineering - Majors