Director, Project & Program Management (Hybrid)

The application window is expected to close on: 09/19/2026This position is a hybrid role, requiring the employee to work both onsite at our San Jose, CA office and remotely. Candidates should be comfortable with a flexible work arrangement that balances in-office collaboration and remote work. Specific onsite days and remote days will be coordinated with the team and manager.Meet the Team

The Observability Product and Technology organization is growing in scope, complexity, and strategic importance. The TPM function plays a critical role in aligning cross-functional teams, improving execution velocity, driving complex technical initiatives, and ensuring timely, high-quality outcomes across the portfolio. The team supports Engineering and Product transformation by creating the operating models, visibility, governance, and execution rigor needed to help technical teams deliver with stronger predictability, quality, accountability, and measurable impact. This is a distributed, cross-functional TPM organization working across multiple geographies, product portfolios, collaborator groups, and matrixed teams. Our culture values clarity, empathy, high standards, outcome orientation, and strong partnership with Engineering and Product leadership.

We are also helping lead the organization through an AI shift by increasing automation through AI-enabled workflows, improving insights and action planning, and building scalable TPM practices that make execution faster, simpler, and more effective. This is an exciting opportunity to shape how a strategic TPM organization operates at scale while directly influencing the quality, speed, and customer impact of Cisco's observability portfolio. Does this sound like you?

Your Impact

• Lead and scale TPM strategy across geographies, product portfolios, and collaborator groups.
• Set the vision, operating model, execution of playbooks, governance mechanisms, and repeatable cadences that enable consistent program delivery!
• Improve velocity, stronger quality outcomes, clearer accountability, and business impact.
• Drive critical initiatives from conception through delivery by aligning Product, Engineering, Go-to-Market, executive leadership, and other key business collaborators!
• Transform the TPM organization by finding opportunities to automate, simplify, and improve how teams operate through AI-enabled workflows, data-driven insights, action-planning mechanisms, and operating models.
• Coach, mentor, and strengthen your team, including senior-level contributors and TPM leaders, so the TPM function becomes a strategic partner and enabler to Engineering and Product leadership.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + 15 years of related experience in technical program management, engineering leadership, product operations, or equivalent technical execution leadership.
• Experience with operating at Director-level scope in a scaled software, SaaS, infrastructure, or technology organization.
• Proven experience leading large-scale engineering, product, or TPM transformation across complex, multi-team organizations, that span multiple geographies.
• Proven track record driving large-scale transformation with measurable improvements in execution velocity, quality, predictability, and business outcomes, including experience ensuring programs deliver intended business and customer outcomes.
• Experience transforming TPM or execution organizations through improved operating models, governance mechanisms.
• Automation using AI and other tools, data-driven insights, productive planning, roadmap planning, dependency mapping, risk management, quality tracking, executive reporting, and operational reviews.
• Strong background establishing quality expectations and cross-functional accountability.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in observability, monitoring, analytics, infrastructure, DevOps, cloud platforms, or related technical domains.
• Experience driving AI transformation within an engineering, product, operations, or TPM organization, including using AI to improve automation, insight generation, decision-making, execution velocity, and action planning.
• Strong executive presence and written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience building and refining TPM processes, governance models, quality mechanisms, and guidelines at scale across distributed teams, including coaching, guiding, and developing senior TPMs or technical leaders with emotional intelligence, clarity, and high standards.

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 $220,300.00 to $283,300.00 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:

$220,300.00 - $339,500.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$198,500.00 - $290,000.00

* 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.