Leader, Sales - GES - MN/WI

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

Candidate must be in or willing to relocate to MN or WI

Meet the Team
As a first-line leader, you will manage and lead a team of Account Executives, holding accountability for overall team performance, portfolio profitability, and the success of customer purchasing decisions. You will act as an Account Orchestrator, building high-level relationships with key stakeholders—including CTOs, CIOs, CFOs, and partner executives—to align Cisco’s comprehensive product and services portfolio with customer roadmaps. By fostering a collaborative environment, you will drive sustainable, cross-portfolio growth and serve as a strategic influencer within the organization.

Your Impact

• Strategic Leadership: Maintain a deep understanding of Cisco’s full product portfolio to guide product and services strategy across architectures.
• Relationship Management: Cultivate and sustain long-term partnerships with a diverse range of customer decision-makers and partner stakeholders.
• Data-Driven Strategy: Analyze business plans and forecasting data to present actionable insights to senior leadership, shaping effective account strategies.
• Market Intelligence: Stay current on industry trends, competitive landscapes, and market dynamics to maintain a strategic advantage.
• Team Management: Lead account teams managing broad portfolios or specialized product architectures, focusing on talent acquisition, retention, and performance development.
• Resource Optimization: Direct resource allocation in alignment with global corporate priorities and strategic sales goals.
• Sales Optimization: Review forecasts to refine sales tactics, streamline processes, and ensure consistent execution across field, partner, and virtual teams.
• Strategic Planning: Lead competitive analysis, facilitate joint planning sessions, and conduct skill-building workshops to improve team quota attainment.
• Performance Tracking: Define and refine customer success metrics and offer aggregated feedback to influence long-term sales planning.

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years in Sales or Sales Management leading large, strategic accounts.
• Demonstrated strategic leadership with a deep understanding of Cisco’s full product portfolio to guide product and services strategy across architectures.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven ability to cultivate and sustain long-term partnerships with diverse customer decision-makers and partner stakeholders.
• Up-to-date knowledge of industry trends, competitive landscapes, and market dynamics to maintain a strategic advantage.
• Leadership and team management capabilities, including leading account teams managing broad portfolios or specialized product architectures, with a focus on talent acquisition, retention, and performance development.
• Skilled in resource optimization, directing resource allocation aligned with global corporate priorities and strategic sales goals.
• Ability to review forecasts, refine sales tactics, streamline processes, and ensure consistent execution across field, partner, and virtual teams.
• Proficient in performance tracking, defining and refining customer success metrics, and providing aggregated feedback to influence long-term sales planning.

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.