Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Who We Are
Cisco ThousandEyes is a Digital Experience Assurance platform that empowers organizations to deliver flawless digital experiences across every network - even the ones they don't own. Powered by AI and an unmatched set of cloud, internet and enterprise network telemetry data, ThousandEyes enables IT teams to proactively detect, diagnose, and remediate issues - before they impact end- user experiences.
ThousandEyes is deeply integrated across the entire Cisco technology portfolio and beyond, helping customers deploy at scale while also delivering AI-powered assurance insights within Cisco's leading Networking, Security, Collaboration, and Observability portfolios.
About the Role
We're looking for a Lead Product Manager who is a great product manager first—and happens to have real depth in modern AI/ML. You'll own product strategy for key AI/ML feature areas, working closely with engineering and research to ship capabilities that make our customers' lives easier. This isn't a traditional enterprise PM role. We want someone who has built AI-native products and understands how they actually work under the hood. Ideally, you've spent time at companies like Cursor, Windsurf, Replit, or similar places where AI isn't a feature; it's the product. You'll bring that perspective to ThousandEyes as we build the next generation of intelligent, agentic capabilities on top of one of the richest network telemetry datasets in the world.
What You'll Do
Be the connective tissue between product and ML—you'll sit at the intersection of customer problems and technical possibilities, translating between what users need and what models can do.
Get your hands dirty with the technology—you're comfortable digging into how a model behaves, why it's making certain predictions, and what trade-offs come with different approaches.
Rethink the user experience from first principles—instead of bolting AI onto existing workflows, you'll help design interactions where intelligent automation is the default.
Make hard calls on ambiguous problems—AI product development is messy; you'll need to decide when something is good enough to ship and when it needs more iteration.
Bridge the gap between research and production—help the team move from promising experiments to features that work reliably at scale.
Qualifications
8+ years in product management, with experience shipping AI-native or ML-powered products
Strong product fundamentals—you know how to discover what matters, prioritize ruthlessly, and get things out the door
Genuine technical depth in ML—you understand how modern models work (especially transformers), and can engage meaningfully with engineers on architecture and trade-offs
Experience at companies building agentic AI products (Cursor, Windsurf, Replit, Cognition, etc.) is a strong plus
Excellent communicator—can distill complex topics for different audiences and influence across teams and levels
Bias for action; comfortable operating with ambiguity and making calls without perfect information
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 $135,800.00 to $198,800.00 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:
$168,800.00 - $277,400.00Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$148,800.00 - $248,200.00* 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
- 8+ years in product management with experience shipping AI-native or ML-powered products
- Strong product fundamentals including discovery, prioritization, and shipping
- Genuine technical depth in ML and modern models (especially transformers)
- Experience at companies building agentic AI products (e.g., Cursor, Windsurf, Replit, Cognition)
- Excellent communication skills; able to distill complex topics and influence across teams
- Bias for action and comfort operating with ambiguity
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.
-
Healthcare Strength — Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, mental health support via an EAP, and access to on-site or virtual health centers indicate robust healthcare offerings. Wellness programs, fitness resources, and specialized services further reinforce coverage depth.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO, a global minimum for paid parental leave, and unique programs like company-wide recharge days and paid volunteer time expand time-away options. Additional offerings such as Critical Time Off and adoption assistance add flexibility for life events.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Restricted stock units and a discounted employee stock purchase plan are meaningful elements of total compensation. The prominence of equity can materially augment overall pay packages alongside salary and bonuses.
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.
