Senior Director, AI Marketing (San Jose)

The application window is expected to close on: 08/03/2026Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.Meet the Team:You will join a high-octane, cross-functional leadership team dedicated to defining the future of AI at Cisco. This role sits at the intersection of innovation and execution, collaborating daily with AI Product Marketing, Field Marketing, Demand Generation, PR, and Analyst Relations. We are a team of builders who value Thinking Really Big and Driving Durable Growth. You will report into Marketing Leadership and serve as a critical bridge between our technical product capabilities and our global go-to-market (GTM) strategy, ensuring that Cisco’s AI narrative is both credible to developers and essential to enterprise buyers. Your Impact:As Director of AI Marketing, you are the architect of our AI pipeline and market presence. You will: Own the AI Growth Engine: Take full accountability for the AI marketing pipeline, defining the strategy to hit sourced and influenced targets while managing the operating cadence across all channels. Lead Agent Next Initiatives: Design and execute flagship executive summits that convene the world’s top AI leaders, customers, and practitioners to shape the future of agentic-AI. Bridge the Developer-Buyer Gap: Develop a sophisticated two-pronged strategy that builds deep credibility with AI developers through technical engagement while educating enterprise executives on business value, governance, and adoption. Scale Global Activations: Own the AI event strategy across four core global conferences, turning market moments into measurable pipeline through rigorous invite and follow-up motions. Influence the Industry: In partnership with Analyst Relations and PMM, you will shape the narratives that define Cisco’s position in the AI ecosystem, ensuring our differentiation is clear to the world’s leading influencers and analysts. Minimum Qualifications:To be considered for this role, candidates must meet the following objective criteria:Experience: 12+ years of professional experience in B2B technology marketing. Domain Expertise: Minimum of 3 years of experience marketing AI, developer platforms, cloud infrastructure, or enterprise software. Pipeline Management: 3+ years of experience owning and managing a marketing pipeline or revenue-based performance targets. Leadership: 5+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams or large-scale integrated marketing programs (e.g., events, demand gen, and PR). Education: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Engineering, or a related field. Preferred Qualifications:Advanced AI Knowledge: Deep understanding of agentic-AI, model operations (LLMs), AI governance, and the emerging AI observability market.Strategic Events: Proven success in designing high-touch executive programs or customer summits for C-suite audiences. Analyst Relations: Experience directly shaping narratives for major industry analyst evaluations (e.g., Gartner Magic Quadrants or Forrester Waves). Technical Fluency: Ability to translate complex technical AI capabilities into compelling, differentiated market narratives for both practitioners and business buyers. Innovation Mindset: Hands-on experience using AI tools to optimize marketing workflows and team productivity. Communication: Exceptional cross-functional leadership skills with the ability to influence Sales, Product, and Executive leadership. Why Cisco? At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere. We are Cisco, and our power starts with you. Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:The starting salary range posted for this position is $278,000.00 to $350,300.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by CiscoNon-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employeesExempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the nextAdditional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family membersOptional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteerFor non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:.75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; andOnce performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:New York City Metro Area:$278,000.00 - $402,800.00Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:$250,000.00 - $362,300.00* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined. Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.Job SummaryJob number: 2020089Date posted : 2026-07-24Profession: Marketing and CommunicationsEmployment type: Full time