Director, AI Security Specialist - EMEA

About Zscaler

Zscaler accelerates digital transformation to ensure our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. As an AI-forward enterprise, we are constantly pushing the envelope, leveraging the world’s largest security data lake to power our cloud-native Zero Trust Exchange platform. This innovation protects our customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We say, impact over activity. We seek innovators who actively use AI to amplify their impact and who thrive in an environment where we leverage intelligent systems to stay ahead of evolving threats. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate—we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession, collaboration, ownership, and accountability. We value high-impact, high-accountability with a sense of urgency where you’re enabled to do your best work and embrace your potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges, and want to be part of the team that’s helping to secure the AI age, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler and help shape the future of cybersecurity.

About the Role

The AI revolution is here, and enterprises are racing to adopt GenAI—but they cannot deploy what they cannot secure. Zscaler is building a brand-new AI Security incubation team to solve this massive challenge. 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.
• 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).

At Zscaler, we are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and the customers we work with. We foster an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives, emphasizing collaboration and belonging. Join us in our mission to make doing business seamless and secure. 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.

By applying for this role, you adhere to applicable laws, regulations, and Zscaler policies, including those related to security and privacy standards and guidelines. Zscaler is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. We strive to create a workplace where employees are treated with respect and have the chance to succeed. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy or related medical conditions), age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Pay Transparency

Zscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules. Zscaler is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations or adjustments) in our recruiting processes for candidates who are differently abled, have long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support.