Director, SE Strategy, Planning & Operations

Americas Sales Strategy, Planning, and Operations (SP&O) is a dynamic organization where innovation and technology come together to help our sales teams deliver on customer outcomes. We are seeking a best-in-class Sales GTM Strategy, Planning & Operations Director who can be strategic partner & advisor to sales Solutions Engineering (SE) leader (VP/SVP) to help shape Americas Sales SE strategy, support Run the Business & execute key initiatives that translate into sales growth in partnership with the Sales Leadership Team and cross-functional collaborators (Theaters, Operations, Specialist, Finance, & Business Units).

This Director will be reporting to Senior Director and will own below for Engineering group in Americas Sales

• Build Growth Plan: Develop Annual/Long Range strategic sales SE plan through structure frameworks, partnerships with cross functional teams, and the build-out GTM playbooks. Design & operationalize SE priorities (including KPIs) with the structure PMO approach.
• Holistic Planning Engine: Serve as the primary orchestrator for End-to-End planning (meaning bringing everything together that’s Including GTM Strategy, BE Interlocks, Operations, Readiness, Recognition, Events) – which includes process, structure & milestone deliverables by partnering with cross functional groups. Ensure all tasks are meticulously captured, assigned, tracked, and driven to timely completion.
• Run the Hub:  Own and Govern Americas SE sales/SP&O cadence (Standard operating model / procedure / process / rhythm & run-of-show).
• Operations Excellence: Partner with revenue operations & execution teams on key operations activities (Compensation, Readiness) & initiatives supporting the Sales SE group.
• Strategic Initiative Leadership: Identify, develop, and lead high-impact strategic sales SE initiatives that align with the organization's goals and drive transformation across global markets.
• Conduct Strategic, Data-Driven Analyses (using Market Research, Business & Competitive intelligence): Identify levers to grow across discrete new, renew, and expand sales motions. Advise GTM strategy that supports growth and scale of the global business. Define and leverage GTM levers to instrument growth-driven programs in our business.
• Advisory: Be a strategic partner & advisor to sales SE leader (VP/SVP) and support end to end on Strategy, Planning & Operations aspects of Sales Solutions Engineering group.
• People Leadership: Serve as a people leader and guide a dynamic Sales SE GTM Strategy Planning & Operations team by providing strategic guidance and insights to drive innovation and continuous improvement in sales practices.
• AI-Forward: Leverage AI tooling to accelerate ideation, strategic planning, and execution — using AI-driven insights to sharpen decision-making and drive faster, more informed outcomes.
• Executive Communication: Tell the growth plan & priorities story in both what we need to do and how we will do to senior executives across sales, specialist, product business unit and executive leadership teams. Prepare Americas Sales SE Head for the Board, ELT and SLT level strategic meetings and presentations.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner with internal stakeholders, including sales, specialist, global SE, marketing, product development, and operations, to ensure alignment and successful execution of strategic initiatives.
• Change Management: Advocate for and implement change management practices that facilitate the adoption of new strategies and processes within the sales organization.
• Strategic Assessment: Assess how best to spend a $1 of coverage against what customers, regions, products to increase output, including key strategic questions around renewals, customer success, field roles and Sales organization structure/governance/design.

Who You Are: You are a dedicated people leader with strong experience coaching and developing dynamic sales and corporate strategy teams. As a trusted partner and advisor to the C-suite, you have a consistent track record of building cross-functional relationships and driving successful outcomes in a complex, matrixed environment. You are a natural problem-solver and synthesizer who can quickly structure ambiguous information, draw out patterns, and build hypotheses backed by data and insights. Armed with AI tools, you are a compelling storyteller who confidently presents these data-driven perspectives to peers and senior executives alike. Highly organized and a true self-starter, you efficiently manage your priorities and workload, always knowing when to ask for help or take on new projects. Above all, you are a curious, flexible, and multi-functional professional who embraces variety and tackles evolving business challenges with an unwavering growth mindset.

• 10+ years' experience including experience in management consulting, GTM strategy, strategy planning, or sales SE including people leadership/management.

• Proven experience in management consulting (or equivalent experience), with a focus on strategy planning & transformation, preferably within a sales context.
• BS/BA Degree.
• MBA Preferred.
• Demonstrated management experience leading strategy teams with a proven track record of team development.
• Sales/GTM Strategy experience within the tech sector highly preferred.
• Strong in framing & structuring business problems, prioritizing the effort, conducting complex quantitative and qualitative analysis, building an exec level story complete with recommendations.
• Experience translating Business Priorities into actionable GTM Programs including (but not limited to) offer creation, campaign creation, and enablement all of which are measurable
• Strong AI tools, analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to synthesize complex data into actionable insights.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and engage stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to lead strategic initiatives and drive transformation in a complex, global organization; executing programs that can span 6-12 months through to completion.
• Self-starter with a high degree of initiative, capable of working independently and managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Curious and flexible, you enjoy variety and are willing to tackle different roles/responsibilities as business needs evolve.
• A standout colleague: You love a challenge, you've always got your teammate's ask, and you're inspired working with others to achieve success.
• Fail forward demeanor, leads as a natural innovator in the face of change and adversity.

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. 

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:

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

* 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.