Director, Technical Marketing - Data Center Networking Business

Cisco•Milpitas, CA

2d•$230,100 - $374,100•Remote

About The Position

As a Director of Technical Marketing, you will join a team of subject matter authorities, working on ground breaking data center networking fabric architectures and Agentic Ops frameworks. You will operate as a senior individual contributor and trusted executive advisor, collaborating across engineering, product management, sales, and the broader industry ecosystem to build the future of networking. In this role, you will be the most senior technical voice behind Cisco’s Nexus 9000 portfolio, NX-OS, Nexus Dashboard, and AI Networking Fabric solutions. Your work will directly influence product roadmaps, competitive positioning, and go-to-market strategies.

Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline (PhD is a plus) or equivalent combination of skills and experience.
15+ years of deep technical experience in data center networking, systems engineering, product engineering, or technical marketing.
10+ years of expert-level proficiency in NX-OS, Nexus platform architectures, VXLAN, EVPN, BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, Segment Routing, and data center fabric build at scale.
10+ years of hands-on expertise in RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE v2), GPUDirect RDMA, GPU cluster interconnect design, and lossless Ethernet fabric design.
10+ years proficiency in Python, Ansible, Terraform, YANG/NETCONF, gNMI, and OpenConfig.

Nice To Haves

Prior people management or technical team leadership experience.
CCIE Data Center, CCIE Service Provider, or equivalent expert-level industry certifications.
Hands-on experience with AI infrastructure platforms (e.g., NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD, HGX) and open-source networking (SONiC, FRRouting, DPDK).
Experience with cloud-native networking, Kubernetes (CNI plugins), service mesh architectures, and performance benchmarking tools (IXIA, Spirent).
Published patents, academic papers, or recognized contributions to data center/AI domains.
Familiarity with P&L dynamics, business planning, and go-to-market strategies for technical products.
Exposure to working with Gartner, IDC, or Forrester analysts in a technical advisory capacity.
Outstanding written and verbal skills, with a consistent track record to convey sophisticated technical concepts to both technical and executive audiences.
Demonstrated ability to drive outcomes and influence product strategy through cross-functional leadership without direct authority.

Responsibilities

Define, validate, and publish authoritative reference architectures for critically meaningful use cases, including AI/ML training fabrics, VXLAN/EVPN, and HPC environments.
Function as an executive technical advisor to product management and engineering, identifying market whitespace and championing strategic technical requirements.
Author landmark technical publications and represent Cisco at world-class industry events (e.g., Cisco Live, OCP Summit, GTC).
Lead deep-dive technical briefings for strategic global accounts and build long-term relationships with ecosystem partners like NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel.
Build and validate end-to-end lab environments, perform rigorous benchmarking, and develop automation frameworks to demonstrate Cisco’s differentiation.
Act as a force multiplier by mentoring senior and principal-level engineers and driving technical excellence across the organization.

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
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
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, 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
annual bonuses (for non-sales roles)
performance-based incentive pay (for sales roles)