Partner Account Executive - DC/Herndon/Fulton

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

Candidate required to live in or relocate to Northern VA, DC or Fulton/Annapolis, MD

Meet the Team
Join a collaborative and high-performing team focused on driving success through partner relationships. As a Partner Account Executive, you will build trust, credibility, and relevance with partner sales teams, empowering them to become active advocates of our solutions. You will work closely with regional sales leaders to align strategies and execute go-to-market plans, ensuring mutual growth and shared success. Our team culture emphasizes teamwork, continuous learning, and supporting each other to exceed our goals.

Your Impact
As a Partner Account Executive, you will leverage your experience in customer-centric sales and channel dynamics to establish yourself as a trusted advisor to partner organizations. By coaching and enabling partner account managers, you will help them position and sell our solutions in customer-facing engagements. You will work strategically to align partner and internal sales teams, driving joint initiatives and maximizing business opportunities.

In this role, you will:

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with partner principals and sales teams, inspiring trust and acting as a resource for training and mentorship.
• Collaborate with internal sales teams and regional leaders to create and implement effective go-to-market strategies.
• Support partners in business transformation by helping them develop unique value propositions, refine sales processes, and increase adoption of our solutions.
• Demonstrate excellent communication, listening, and influence skills when engaging with partners and internal stakeholders.
• Operate with a high level of business acumen, adaptability, and professionalism in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Balance team collaboration with independent initiative, working effectively with diverse individuals and groups to achieve shared objectives.

Minimum Qualifications

• 4+ years of sales, account management, or partner management experience
• Experience effectively communicating complex technical concepts to diverse audiences, including technical teams and partners
• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Fed Sys Integrators a major plus
• 3+ years experience managing indirect sales models and driving revenue through partner channels
• Understanding of sales and channel dynamics, with previous experience in commercial, enterprise, or public sector account management
• Experience building trust and credibility with partner executives and sales teams, and to serve as a mentor and resource in positioning solutions to customers
• Excellent listening, communication, and influence skills with a track record of building strong executive relationships
• Strategic thinker with proven ability to collaborate, drive initiatives, and deliver results in a fast-moving environment

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.