Director, Product Management
About The Position
Cisco’s Engineering Excellence and Operations product organization establishes developer platforms, operational practices, and enterprise-grade observability architectures that support high-velocity software delivery. The Director of Product Management will define the multi-year product strategy and roadmap for Engineering Excellence and Operations, leading product definition and execution across initiatives such as the Splunk Observability Center of Excellence (CoE), regional expansion and compliance, and global Developer Experience (DevX). The role partners with engineering, operations, architecture, and executive stakeholders to turn strategic priorities into delivered outcomes and advance Cisco’s internal adoption of Splunk Observability Cloud. This is a strategic, player-coach leadership role. The Director will lead and mentor Product Managers, set performance expectations, support career development, and align product strategy across the portfolio. The role also connects deep technical discussions with senior engineers and architects to executive business reviews with cross-functional leadership.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical work experience.
- 12+ years of professional industry experience, including a proven background in software product management for enterprise B2B SaaS products.
- 3+ years of direct experience leading, managing, or mentoring Product Managers.
- Experience defining product roadmaps and managing product lifecycles for enterprise software, cloud services, observability platforms, developer platforms (DevX), or similar product areas.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, MBA, or equivalent work experience.
- Deep domain expertise in enterprise observability, APM, log analytics, distributed tracing, metric infrastructure, or cloud-native architectures, including Splunk, OpenTelemetry, AWS, Azure, or GCP.
- Strong technical foundation and ability to engage credibly in architectural discussions with principal engineers, software architects, and operations leads.
- Track record modernizing internal developer platforms, SDLC automation tools, and large-scale engineering operational workflows.
- Ability to translate ambiguous operational, technical, and regulatory compliance requirements into prioritized product roadmaps and delivered business outcomes.
- Success translating sophisticated technical concepts into strategic value propositions for business executives and external customer engagements.
Responsibilities
- Define and implement the product vision and multi-year roadmap for Engineering Excellence and Operations, aligning priorities with enterprise business and engineering goals.
- Partner with engineering and architecture on product definitions, milestone planning, backlog prioritization, and delivery governance; align partners and resolve technical tradeoffs.
- Lead product direction for the Observability CoE and advance Cisco’s internal deployment and utilization of Splunk Observability Cloud.
- Define operational use cases, enterprise rollout plans, and scalable operating practices that demonstrate Splunk Observability to external customers.
- Develop product roadmaps for regional expansion, defining localized requirements, architectural dependencies, and delivery sequencing with global teams.
- Work with engineering, legal, security, and operations partners to translate regional compliance and governance mandates into product requirements and roadmap work.
- Improve the developer journey by optimizing platforms, internal tools, and CI/CD workflows for distributed engineering teams.
- Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing team of Product Managers; set performance standards, foster career development, and establish strategic alignment across the portfolio.
- Bridge technical discussions with principal engineers and architects and executive business reviews with multifunctional leadership across business units.
Benefits
- Medical insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
- Paid parental leave
- Short- and long-term disability coverage
- Basic life insurance
- Cisco restricted stock unit grants may be available, subject to eligibility and continued employment
- 10 paid holidays per full calendar year
- Floating holiday for non-exempt employees
- Paid birthday day off
- Paid year-end holiday shutdown
- Four paid personal wellness days
- Flexible vacation time off for eligible exempt employees
- 16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year for non-exempt employees
- 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire and each January 1, with up to 80 unused hours carried forward
- Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues
- Optional 10 paid volunteer days per full calendar year
- Annual bonuses for eligible non-sales employees, subject to Cisco policies
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
