Director, Strategy & Planning

The application window is expected to close on: 07/31/2026

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received .

The ideal candidate will be able to work in a hybrid capacity from either San Jose or San Francisco, CA; however, the team is also open to fully remote candidates, preferably located in or near a major metropolitan area.

MEET THE TEAM

Cisco is growing its agentic capabilities, delivering Cloud Control, AI Defense, AI Assistant, and a growing portfolio, along with acquisitions in agentic observability and orchestration. The pace of innovation demands a new way of bringing products to market. The GTM Strategy and Execution group operates as an extension of the AI Software and Platform organization, building GTM playbooks that capture Cisco’s scale at the speed of product velocity.

The team partners across Sales, Marketing, Product, Finance, and Customer Success to drive alignment, operational excellence, and measurable outcomes. This is a fast-moving, highly collaborative team focused on building new GTM frameworks and commercialization motions for the agentic era.

YOUR IMPACT

As Director, you will be hands-on designing and building a product GTM architecture for the agentic era. In this role, you will orchestrate GTM strategies that drive business growth, collaborating across Sales, Marketing, Product, Finance, and Customer Success to ensure alignment, operational excellence, and measurable outcomes. This role requires strong leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to translate high-level strategies into actionable execution plans.

RESPONSIBILITIES

GTM Strategy for Cisco’s AI Software and Agentic Capabilities

• Develop and implement Go-To-Market strategies and new operating frameworks aligned with business objectives.

• Translate strategy into initiatives with measurable outcomes.

• Develop and operationalize GTM frameworks for new market motions across the agentic platform, working closely with Product and GTM teams.

Business Inspection & Stakeholder Management

• Monitor performance against strategic goals, identifying optimization opportunities.

• Manage expectations and align senior leaders and stakeholders.

Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Build performance measurement frameworks and KPIs for GTM programs.

• Drive continuous improvement through retrospectives and lessons learned.

Commercialization Strategy and Frameworks

• Support the strategy for agentic commercialization frameworks—pricing, packaging, and adoption models.

• Help build out open source-to-monetization motions, DevOps buying motions, and agent-as-buyer ICPs in partnership with Sales and Product.

• Define modern product enablement structures.

Leadership & Influence

• Advise executive leadership on GTM operations.

• Encourage cross-functional teams to achieve high-impact results.

Program Development

• Build scalable frameworks and processes for Go-To-Market program execution across GTM teams.

• Establish governance models to ensure consistency and accountability.

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Product, Finance, and Customer Success teams to ensure alignment and coordinated execution across organizations.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Operations, or a related field.

• 12+ years of experience in go-to-market leadership roles such as Product Management, Sales, Sales Acceleration, Customer Success, or Marketing.

• Industry experience in the AI and agentic market, either in an AI company or supporting AI products within a SaaS company.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with AI, agentic AI, platform, or developer-focused product launches.

• Experience with 0-to-1 product launches and customer adoption motions.

• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, agile environment with constant change.

• Strong interest as a builder.

• Exposure to open source-to-monetization motions, DevOps buying centers, or new commercialization models (usage-based, consumption, platform packaging).

• Experience working with Sales, Partner, and Customer Experience teams and systems.

• Strong communication skills.

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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 $244,200.00 to $312,500.00 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:

$244,200.00 - $375,900.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$217,400.00 - $318,100.00

• 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.

Cisco is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis.

Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.