Director, Strategy & Planning

Cisco•Austin, NC

11h•Remote

About The Position

The Global Specialist Strategy, Planning & Operations (SP&O) organization is looking for a Director of Sales SP&O to serve as the primary strategic partner to the SVP of Collaboration. This role operates as part of a coordinated leadership team alongside an existing Chief of Staff, Finance Business Partner, and other key functions. The team focuses on running the operational cadence that keeps the business moving while contributing meaningfully to how the organization thinks about its market and its future. You will be judged on the strategic leverage you create, ensuring the SVP can delegate planning and operations work with full confidence. In this role, you will own the operating cadence and resource planning that drives the Collaboration business. You will lead headcount, capacity, and annual operating plan development, tying targets and investments into one coherent strategy. What makes this role exciting is the opportunity to move beyond historical tracking to build forward-looking demand and pipeline coverage models that give real visibility into the business. You will build and lead a lean, high-performing team focused on high-leverage work, protect rep capacity, and provide the data and recommendations that shape the executive narrative for ELT and staff-level conversations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree with 15 years of related experience, or Master’s degree with 12 years of related experience, or PhD with 8 years of related experience (or equivalent related work experience).
4+ years of supervisory or people management experience.
8+ years of experience in sales strategy, planning, or sales operations within the enterprise technology or SaaS industry.
Experience managing annual operating planning, headcount/capacity planning, and pipeline/coverage modeling.
Experience utilizing CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) for sales process design, data governance, and compensation plan design.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with the Collaboration/UCaaS market or adjacent enterprise technology segments.
Experience within a specialist or overlay sales model, including contributing to go-to-market strategy or competitive intelligence work.
Exceptional cross-functional collaboration skills, with the ability to partner effectively across finance, HR, Chief of Staff, and other business-supporting teams.
Strong analytical and financial acumen, with the ability to build models, translate complex data into actionable recommendations, and communicate effectively at the executive level.
Ability to anticipate factors that could impact market strategy, resolving complex issues by developing innovative, ground-breaking solutions.

Responsibilities

Direct the annual operating plan development by integrating targets, resourcing, and investment decisions into a coherent plan and prioritizing budget against strategic impact.
Lead headcount and capacity planning sized to forward demand, building demand and pipeline coverage models that ensure the business is accurately resourced.
Run scenario and contingency planning to stress-test plans, while owning territory analysis, definition, and annual goal-setting methodologies.
Build and lead a lean, high-performing operations team, ensuring the protection of rep capacity and driving sales-facing change management from design through adoption.
Govern CRM data quality, oversee the broader sales tool stack, own sales process design, and manage core analytics, deal administration, and vendor management.
Partner closely with the Finance Business Partner to ensure pipeline and CRM data feeding the forecast process is clean and reliable.
Contribute to market and segment prioritization, go-to-market model design, and long-range roadmap thinking by capturing competitive intelligence and translating data into actionable executive recommendations.

Benefits

medical, dental and vision insurance
a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution
paid parental leave
short and long-term disability coverage
basic life insurance
grants of Cisco restricted stock units
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
4 paid days off for personal wellness
16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees (non-exempt)
flexible vacation time off program (exempt)
80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter
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
annual bonuses
performance-based incentive pay