Strategy & Planning Manager

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

Meet the Team

The Americas Sales Strategy, Planning & Operations (SP&O) team is seeking a highly analytical, organized Sales Strategy & Planning Manager to support business planning, financial and commercial analysis, and Own the Business operating rhythm for Americas Sales. This hands-on role combines meticulous quantitative work with structured execution, executive reporting, and AI-enabled process improvement.

Annual & Quarterly Planning / Run the Business

• Support annual fiscal year planning, quarterly planning, and next-quarter readiness by maintaining achievements, inputs, templates, dependencies, and deliverables.
• Coordinate operating rhythms including QBRs, forecast and performance reviews, leadership all-hands, offsites, and business planning meetings; prepare materials and track decisions and actions.
• Maintain rolling leadership calendars and action trackers; proactively identify missed inputs, schedule conflicts, risks, and follow-ups across collaborators.

Financial Modeling, Business Analysis & Executive Decision Support

• Build and maintain Excel-based financial and operating models to assess bookings, forecast scenarios, attainment, pipeline coverage, conversion, slippage, and performance against plan.
• Conduct variance, trend, and scenario analysis to explain performance drivers, identify risks and opportunities, and support annual and quarterly planning decisions.
• Consolidate Sales, Finance, and Strategy & Planning inputs into executive summaries, end-of-quarter fact-books, pre-earnings commentary, and clear, data-backed recommendations.

Reporting, Excel & Pipeline Excellence

• Develop sophisticated Excel models, trackers, templates, and recurring reports using pivot tables, complex formulas, lookups, sensitivity analysis, data validation, and structured datasets.
• Support pipeline movement, health and hygiene, and future-quarter build reporting; develop clear visualizations and dashboards using Excel, Power BI, or similar tools.
• Validate data quality, reconcile conflicting inputs, document reporting logic, and improve consistency and timeliness of leadership reporting.

AI-Enabled Execution & Process Improvement

• Use approved AI tools regularly to accelerate analysis, summarize sophisticated inputs, draft executive materials, and support planning workflows while validating outputs and protecting critical data.
• Identify repetitive reporting and coordination work; create reusable prompts, templates, automations, and documented processes that reduce manual effort and improve scalability.

You will be a part of Americas Sales Activation & Acceleration within Americas Sales SP&O, partnering with Run the Business and planning team, Americas Sales leaders, Finance, and cross-functional Strategy & Planning partners. You will help connect analysis, planning, and execution across a sophisticated sales organization.

Your Impact

You will combine the rigor of a strong financial or business analyst with the organization and follow-through of an effective business operator. You enjoy digging into numbers, testing assumptions, spotting inconsistencies, and explaining what the results mean. You can also turn an ambiguous leadership request into a practical plan and deliver it accurately on time.

• Structured Execution: You organize multiple parallel results, handle details, and follow through on commitments.
• Financial & Commercial Foresight: You understand bookings, forecast, attainment, pipeline dynamics, performance against plan, and the drivers behind business results.
• Analytical Communication: You translate financial models and complex datasets into clear findings, scenarios, and executive-ready recommendations.
• Ownership & Precision: You catch inconsistencies, ask clarifying questions, and deliver diligent work under changing priorities.
• AI Perspective: You actively experiment with approved AI tools and automation, then verify accuracy before using results.

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience in financial analysis, FP&A, sales operations analytics, business planning, corporate strategy, or another quantitatively meticulous business analyst role.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency, including financial or operational modeling, pivot tables, complex formulas, lookups, sensitivity/scenario analysis, and large dataset analysis.
• Experience performing variance and performance analysis, developing forecasts or scenarios, and producing decision-ready business reports or executive presentations.
• Strong quantitative reasoning and eye for business; ability to challenge assumptions, reconcile discrepancies, interpret financial and sales metrics, and explain the implications.
• Demonstrated organization, attention to detail, customer coordination, and ability to handle multiple deadlines.
• Practical experience using AI tools for research, synthesis, reporting, or workflow productivity, with appropriate validation.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate during U.S. East Coast business hours.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in corporate finance, FP&A, management consulting, commercial analytics, or enterprise Sales Operations.
• Understanding of bookings, forecast, pipeline coverage, attainment, conversion, deal slippage, and quarter-end financial or operating reporting.
• Experience with Power BI, Salesforce reporting, PowerPoint, financial planning tools, or other business intelligence platforms.
• Experience developing repeatable AI-assisted workflows, process automations, or self-service reporting.
• Exposure to annual planning, QBRs, leadership offsites, action tracking, or executive factbooks.

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.