Director, Product Management

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Meet the Team

Outshift is Cisco’s incubation engine, dedicated to exploring ambitious, innovative ideas and experimenting with technologies that shape the future. Our team is a diverse, distributed group of experts passionate about the "zero to one" journey—taking groundbreaking technology like Quantum and AI from research to enterprise-ready solutions. We value rapid iteration, "failing fast," and solving the hardest problems at the forefront of the tech landscape.

Your Impact

If you are a dual-natured leader who can shift between technical deep-dives and high-level financial/market strategy, this is a great opportunity! We function as a high‑agility startup within the Cisco ecosystem, focusing on the 12-to-60‑month innovation horizon. You will influence senior leadership and help steer the direction of our incubation portfolio. As the Director of Product Management, you will lead the strategy for emerging technologies including quantum networking and cryptography. You will serve as the central resource for market analysis, evaluating startup ecosystems and venture capital trends to inform Cisco’s investment and product roadmap. You will drive the early‑stage conceptualization process, collaborating with research and engineering to define product‑market fit.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree + 15 years of related experience supporting technical product development and delivery
• Demonstrated experience in early‑stage product incubation or "zero to one" market entry.
• Confirmed background in venture capital or financial market analysis.
• Proven experience and deep familiarity with quantum technologies and markets.
• 4+ years of supervisory or leadership experience working directly with infrastructure technology teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a startup or high‑growth scale‑up environment.
• Strong network within the AI and Quantum research communities.
• Ability to perform competitive analysis using tools like PitchBook, CB Insights, or Crunchbase.
• Experience with Hyperscaler technologies.
• The ability to thrive in highly ambiguous, constantly evolving environments.

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 $230,100.00 to $325,300.00 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 employees
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year‑end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco
• Non‑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 employees
• Exempt 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 next
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For 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%; and
• Once 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:

$230,100.00 - $374,100.00

Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state:

$216,500.00 - $337,000.00

* 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.