Director of Product Management - AI Security & AI Gateway

About Us

At Versa Networks, we're revolutionizing the way businesses connect, secure, and optimize their networks. Our mission is to secure anywhere, anytime access to anything. As a leader in Secure SD-WAN, SSE (Secure Service Edge), SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) and Next-generation Managed Services, we are empowering organizations across the globe to transform their IT infrastructure for the modern cloud era.

Our innovative products enable enterprises to deliver a seamless, scalable, and secure digital experience, no matter where their users, devices, or applications are located. Founded by industry veterans and backed by premier venture capital firms, Versa is a market leader driving innovation and growth as it positions itself for a future IPO.

We believe in fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and customer success. Our team is comprised of passionate, forward-thinking professionals dedicated to driving the future of networking technology. We encourage creativity, offer opportunities for growth, and provide a dynamic environment where our people can thrive and make an impact.

At Versa Networks, we don’t just build products – we build relationships, elevate businesses, and shape the digital future. Join us and be part of a fast-paced, cutting-edge company that's making a real difference in how the world connects and communicates.

Job Summary

We are seeking a visionary, technical, and execution-oriented Director of Product Management to lead Versa’s AI Security and AI Gateway product portfolio.

In this leadership role, you will define the vision, roadmap, architecture, and commercial strategy for how global enterprises discover, protect, optimize, and govern Generative AI models and Agentic AI workflows. You will own market-defining capabilities ranging from Gen-AI Firewalls and AI Gateways to AI Security Posture Management (AI-SPM), Agentic Bill of Materials (ABOM), and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server security.

As the face and champion of AI Security at Versa, you will also serve as a thought leader—representing the company at premier AI, cybersecurity, and networking conferences worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Product Vision, Strategy & Roadmap
• Define and execute the multi-year vision, product roadmap, and strategy for Versa’s AI Security and AI Gateway portfolio.
• Translate market shifts, emerging threats, and LLM/agent architectural evolutions into differentiated product capabilities integrated into Versa’s unified SASE/SSE architecture.
• Drive end-to-end product lifecycle from ideation, requirements collection, use-cases definition, product experience definition working closely with the UX team, to leading new product launch process through to GA, customer adoption, and telemetry feedback loops.
• Core Functional Ownership
• Gen-AI Firewall & Runtime Defense: Build next-generation inline defense against Prompt Injections, Jailbreaking, Data Poisoning, System Prompt Leakage, Denial of Service (DoS), and adversarial LLM threats.
• Deliver robust Prompt Guard and Guardrail architectures that are integrated seamlessly into network traffic paths governed by Versa
• Shadow AI Discovery, Control & Governance: Deliver complete visibility into enterprise-wide AI adoption, detecting unsanctioned models, external web Gen-AI apps, and hidden API calls.
• Build policy-driven governance frameworks enforcing corporate compliance (EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, HIPAA, GDPR).
• Enterprise AI Gateway & Usage Management: Lead the development of an enterprise-grade AI Gateway providing advanced traffic steering, rate-limiting, and routing based on application, data classification, geographic location, model choice (commercial vs. open-source), and cost efficiency.
• Manage latency, fallback strategies, multi-model redundancy, and local vs. cloud inference routing.
• AI-SPM (AI Security Posture Management)
• Establish continuous auditing, vulnerability management, and misconfiguration detection across enterprise AI pipelines, model weights, data stores, and inference endpoints.
• Agentic Security & Identity (ABOM, Agentic Verbo, MCP): Pioneer security primitives for autonomous AI agents, including Agentic Identity, Agent Bill of Materials (ABOM).
• Secure autonomous workflows, runtime permissions, inter-agent communications, and Agentic Verbo implementations.
• Architect security and governance for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, securing the transport, tooling, and data access layers between LLMs and external systems.
• Tokenomics & Cost Observability: Deliver granular FinOps capabilities for AI: token consumption tracking, cost attribution by department/application/user, budget enforcement, cache optimization, and quota management.
• Packaging, Pricing & Go-To-Market (GTM)
• Own business modeling, SKU design, packaging, and monetization strategies for AI Security and AI Gateway add-ons and standalone offerings, working together with Product leadership
• Partner with Product Marketing, Sales Engineering, and Global Sales to build battlecards, technical collateral, white papers, demo environments, and sales enablement modules.
• Act as an executive sponsor for key customer PoCs, design partner programs, and strategic beta rollouts.
• Industry Evangelism & Thought Leadership
• Serve as Versa’s external authority and public spokesperson for AI Security and Governance.
• Represent Versa at leading industry conferences (e.g., RSA Conference, Black Hat, Gartner Security & Risk, AI summits, IEEE/OpenAI/developer forums).
• Publish thought leadership articles, participate in standard bodies, and engage industry analysts (Gartner, Forrester, IDC).

Requirements

Qualifications

• 10+ years of total product management experience in enterprise cybersecurity, cloud security, SASE/SSE, network security, or API gateway/management products.
• 3+ years of dedicated leadership in AI/ML security, Generative AI applications, AI governance, or modern developer/API infrastructure.
• Deep understanding of LLM fundamentals, inference architectures, vector databases, RAG pipelines, prompt manipulation vectors, and agentic protocols (e.g., LangChain/LangGraph, AutoGen, Model Context Protocol / MCP).
• Strong working knowledge of network security primitives: Layer 7 proxies, TLS interception/inspection, CASB, DLP, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).
• Demonstrated track record of building and scaling enterprise security or networking products from zero-to-one and scaling multi-million-dollar ARR product lines.
• Proven experience establishing SaaS/cloud pricing, packaging, and consumption-based monetization (e.g., token-based, request-based, or user-tier licensing).
• Exceptional written, verbal, and stage presentation skills; proven track record of speaking at technical conferences, delivering keynotes, and briefing C-level executives (CISOs, CIOs, Chief AI Officers).
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Cybersecurity, or equivalent technical field. Advanced degree (MS, PhD, or MBA) is a strong plus.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active involvement with industry frameworks and initiatives such as OWASP Top 10 for LLMs, NIST AI RMF, MITRE ATLAS, or open-source agent ecosystems.
• Prior experience designing and launching high-throughput, low-latency API proxy gateways or reverse proxies.
• Hands-on familiarity with agentic security paradigms, agent authentication/authorization frameworks, and emerging protocols like Anthropic's MCP (Model Context Protocol).
• Location: Santa Clara, CA
• *Applicants must be authorized to work in the US

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment in California, Washington, or New York City is expected in the range of $260,000 to $320,000. A candidate’s specific pay within this range will depend on a variety of factors, including job-related skills, training, location, experience, relevant education, certifications, and other business and organizational needs.