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Meet the Team
Join a high-impact team at the center of Cisco's mission to revolutionize how organizations connect and protect in the AI era. We are building a modern sales team of AI-enabled sellers who show up more prepared, compete differently, and unlock innovation for customers and partners. With AI, the seller experience, and customer value at our core, we are redefining how we activate and drive adoption so our strategy becomes reality.
Your Impact
As the Adoption & Activation Manager, AI for Sales, you own the health and momentum of the AI for Sales CoE (Center of Excellence) and the program that enables our AI CoE for Sales Engagement Leads to drive adoption with leaders and sellers. You establish a reliable operating cadence for the AI for Sales CoE and turn inputs from across our broad AI capabilities, tools, and initiatives into the clear, consistent story, proof points, and materials the Engagement Leads use to move sellers and sales leaders from a conversation about tools and features to one about outcomes and workflows.
This role that spans the full AI for Sales capabilities rather than any single tool. You are the connective tissue and single point of accountability across initiatives — owning the AI for Sales CoE’s operating rhythm and system of record, and equipping the Engagement Leads with the narrative and proof points they take to senior leaders.
You are an AI-forward professional with genuine conviction about the technology — credible enough to be a trusted thought partner to the Engagement Leads and, when needed, to build confidence directly with senior stakeholders.
Working with the AI for Sales CoE team and cross-functional partners, your responsibilities include:
Enabling Executive & Frontline-Manager Engagement
- Develop and implement tailored adoption plans for the AI CoE sales initiatives, programs and sales leadership personas
- Design and execute detailed adoption plans, including multi-channel communications, training, and support strategies, that are tailored to effectively inform, engage, enable, and motivate the global sales organization throughout key AI transformations.
- Prioritize frontline-manager activation as a high-leverage audience, building the messaging and touchpoints the Engagement Leads use to turn managers into visible AI role models for their teams.
- Own the format, content, and follow-through for recurring senior-leadership briefings, equipping the Engagement Leads to run them and land the specific actions that drive adoption and behavior change.
- Design and sequence a program of executive micro-learnings for the Engagement Leads to deliver, so each leadership touchpoint builds on the last.
- Partner with the communications and Activation & Adoption teams to equip Engagement Leads to embed AI for Sales into existing leadership routines — leadership forums, team meetings, all-hands — anchored on clear messages and proof points, so it becomes part of how leaders run their business.
- Help elevate the conversation to leadership outcomes — such as forecast accuracy and the quality of customer conversations — connecting each to the AI capabilities that support them.
AI for Sales CoE Program Health & Accountability
- Own AI for Sales CoE program-level health: the operating cadence, participation, and system of record, ensuring nothing falls between forums and every action has a named owner and a due date.
- Provide one coherent, current view of program performance for executive audiences, drawn from across the AI portfolio.
- Work with cross-functional partners to build a clear narrative and adoption plans that leaders and sellers can act on.
Adoption Insight & Measurement
- Partner with the AI for Sales CoE engagement leads and other AI for Sales teams to make workflows the unit of adoption, measuring whether sellers work differently and the business impact that follows.
- Translate complex adoption data into measurable actions for leaders to drive action.
- Track honest progress along an AI-maturity path, showing leaders where they stand and what it takes to advance, while ensuring measurement stays a valid signal.
Cross-Functional Orchestration
- Connect platform, communications, product, sales strategy, operations, and regional stakeholders, translating priorities into practical operating plans and field-ready, executive-ready content.
- Influence without authority across a complex, global, matrixed organization, and use AI-enabled tools to improve program operations, reporting, and follow-through.
Minimum Qualifications
- BA/BS or equivalent experience in Business, Communications, Marketing, Organizational Development, Sales Operations, or a related field.
- 9+ years in executive communications, go-to-market/sales strategy, program management, enablement, change management, or a related discipline.
- Demonstrated experience owning a recurring, executive-facing program — running leadership cadences, managing a system of record, and driving accountability to named owners and deadlines.
- Proven ability to translate complex, multi-source inputs into clear, compelling executive narratives, and to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority.
- Hands-on fluency with generative AI tools in daily work, with genuine conviction about their value and the ability to build confidence with senior audiences.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting sales, go-to-market, customer success, or other revenue-facing organizations, ideally within the Americas.
- Experience with AI-powered tools, sales technology, or seller-productivity initiatives.
- Chief-of-staff, executive-communications, or senior-leadership-facing program experience.
- Ability to turn adoption data and field sentiment into actionable insight, with executive presence across regions and functions.
- Proven experience / certification with change management methodologies (Prosci ADKAR, CCMP, or equivalent).
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 $127,600.00 to $161,700.00 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:
$148,500.00 - $234,600.00Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$135,400.00 - $215,200.00* 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.
Skills Required
- BA/BS or equivalent experience in Business, Communications, Marketing, Organizational Development, Sales Operations, or related field
- 9+ years in executive communications, go-to-market/sales strategy, program management, enablement, change management, or related discipline
- Demonstrated experience owning a recurring, executive-facing program, including running leadership cadences and managing a system of record
- Proven ability to translate complex, multi-source inputs into clear executive narratives and influence senior stakeholders without direct authority
- Hands-on fluency with generative AI tools and ability to build confidence with senior audiences
- Experience supporting sales, go-to-market, customer success, or other revenue-facing organizations (preferred)
- Experience with AI-powered tools, sales technology, or seller-productivity initiatives (preferred)
- Chief-of-staff, executive-communications, or senior-leadership-facing program experience (preferred)
- Ability to turn adoption data and field sentiment into actionable insight with executive presence across regions and functions (preferred)
- Proven experience or certification with change management methodologies (Prosci ADKAR, CCMP, or equivalent) (preferred)
Cisco Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Cisco and has not been reviewed or approved by Cisco.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as robust with multiple plan options and access to onsite/virtual LifeConnections Health Centers on major campuses. Company materials also highlight mental-health resources and comprehensive preventive care, supporting strong core medical benefits.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time away includes company‑wide recharge days, a paid birthday, a year‑end shutdown, and paid Critical Time Off for emergencies. Paid volunteer days further expand opportunities to step away and recharge.
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Parental & Family Support — Policies include a global minimum for paid parental leave for primary caregivers, caregiving concierge services, and on‑site children’s learning centers in select locations. In the U.S., family‑building support is consolidated under Carrot with a defined lifetime maximum, indicating structured assistance across fertility, preservation, adoption, and surrogacy.
Cisco Insights
What We Do
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) enables people to make powerful connections--whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create the Internet solutions that make networks possible--providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time. Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies. Today, with more than 71,000 employees worldwide, this tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products and solutions in the company's core development areas of routing and switching, as well as in advanced technologies such as home networking, IP telephony, optical networking, security, storage area networking, and wireless technology. In addition to its products, Cisco provides a broad range of service offerings, including technical support and advanced services. Cisco sells its products and services, both directly through its own sales force as well as through its channel partners, to large enterprises, commercial businesses, service providers, and consumers.
