Leader, AI Hyperspecialist Sales

Cisco•San Francisco, CA

4d•$348,200 - $505,500•Hybrid

About The Position

The AI Hyperspecialist Leader is responsible for managing a team of direct account Hyperspecialist architecture sellers focused on influencing customer AI purchasing decisions. This role is accountable for team performance, sales growth, and portfolio profitability. The leader will build and sustain strong, long-term relationships with a broad range of customer and buyer stakeholders, including CTOs, CIOs, CFOs, Purchasing leaders, Partner Executives, LOB, and other sales managers and decision-makers. The leader will collaborate with customers, partners, and industry solution providers to understand business goals, identify upsell/cross-sell opportunities, and create demand based on customer roadmaps. The team leader acts as an Account Orchestrator, aligning and integrating solutions with customer needs, driving sustainable cross-portfolio growth through coordination and competitive deal packing. Responsibilities include leadership of both product and services strategy across the portfolio or architecture as needed, requiring a comprehensive understanding of Cisco’s full product portfolio and strategy. Engagement of specialist teams to enhance the sales process, particularly in areas requiring deep technical expertise, is critical for building the sales funnel through opportunity development and driving opportunities to sales completion to achieve revenue goals. The role involves reviewing business plans, strategy, and forecasting data, and presenting to senior leadership to shape data-driven account strategies. Staying informed about industry trends, market dynamics, and competitive landscapes is also key. The role may be organized by geography, segment, vertical, or account set. Customer-facing time can range from 25-50%, with influence varying from Moderate to High. The internal sales process involves indirect influence on roles not reporting to the leader. The role has mid to high corporate interlock with cross-functional teams. The typical sales cycle generally runs 3-6 months, but can range by segment and may be longer for complex opportunities (up to 18-24 months). Success measures vary by Geo/Segment and may include team performance metrics, goal attainment, recurring revenue, renewal rates, territory YOY growth, and new logos.

Requirements

Proven leadership experience managing hyperspecialist sales teams focused on AI solutions.
Strong track record in complex, strategic enterprise sales with global accounts.
Ability to build and maintain relationships with C-level executives and diverse stakeholders.
Experience coordinating cross-functional teams and aligning sales strategies.
Demonstrated success managing multi-year sales cycles and achieving revenue targets.

Nice To Haves

Deep knowledge of AI technologies, cloud-native solutions, Kubernetes, and open-source ecosystems.
Experience influencing AI purchasing decisions and driving portfolio profitability.
Skilled in account orchestration and integrating solutions to meet customer needs.
Ability to lead competitive analysis and translate insights into actionable sales tactics.
Experience managing executive-level relationships and leading skill-building initiatives.

Responsibilities

Management of a team of direct account Hyperspecialist architecture sellers tasked with influencing customers in AI purchasing decisions.
Accountability for team performance, sales growth and portfolio profitability.
Building and sustaining strong, long-term relationships with broad range of customer and buyer stakeholders.
Collaborating with customers, partners, and industry solution providers to understand their business goals, identify opportunities for upsell/cross-sell additional solutions, and create demand based on what's possible in customer roadmaps.
Serving as the Account Orchestrator, aligning and integrating solutions with customer needs, driving sustainable cross-portfolio growth through coordination and competitive deal packing.
Leadership of both the product and services strategy, across portfolio or architecture as needed.
Maintenance of a comprehensive understanding of Cisco’s full product portfolio and strategy.
Engagement of specialist teams to enhance the sales process, particularly in areas where deep technical expertise is required.
Builds sales funnel through opportunity development and driving opportunities through to sales completion to achieve revenue goals.
Reviews business plans, strategy, and forecasting data and presents to senior leadership to shape data driven account strategies.
Stays informed about industry trends, market dynamics, and competitive landscapes.
Typically leads an account team managing a broad portfolio, and/or teams managing product specific architecture teams.
Accountable for sales growth across multiple years for particular product(s), portfolio(s) or region(s).
Manages to financial and strategic objectives including growth, profitability, entering new markets or launching new product lines.
Directs resource utilization in accordance with strategic sales priorities and based on guidance from global corporate leadership.
Reviews forecasts and other sales data to suggest and remediate any sales tactics, offers aggregated feedback from multiple accounts to influence sales planning.
Oversees consistent execution of sales strategies by streamlining processes and aligning team efforts across field, partner and virtual teams.
Leads team in competitive analysis and planning, translating insights into actionable tactics.
Refreshes as needed, or refines customer success metrics that align with typical sales tactics deployed by own teams.
Coordinate joint planning sessions between partner, virtual, and field teams for assigned accounts.
Leads skill-building workshops for team members to improve quota attainment.
Manages executive-level relationships.

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
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.
Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.