Strategy & Planning Manager

Cisco•Austin, NC

About The Position

The Technical Partner Strategy Manager will help craft Cisco's CX partner strategy, with a focus on Splunk Observability, collaborating with senior leaders to scale partner programs that drive global growth for Cisco. The role serves as a consultative technical authority on Observability Cloud and OpenTelemetry for Partner CX Practice Leads and Principal Architects. It advises partner technical teams on complex multi-cloud monitoring architectures and helps partner delivery teams reduce implementation risk and friction, accelerating customer time-to-value. The position also develops partner-led customer success strategies, drives strategic business model projects, and influences cross-functional leaders on long-term priorities for ecosystem growth.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.
10+ years of total experience across enterprise architecture, partner solutions architecture, technical consulting, or partner strategy.
5+ years of experience focused on cloud-native observability, APM, or distributed systems monitoring.
Deep architectural proficiency in modern observability domains, including APM, RUM, metrics/logs/traces correlation, and OpenTelemetry standards, and in containerized environments such as Kubernetes and Docker.
Demonstrated leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills to influence senior leaders across various geographies.

Nice To Haves

Current certifications or consultant accreditations in Splunk, such as Splunk Observability Consultant I/II or Splunk Core Certified Consultant, or equivalent enterprise platforms such as Datadog, Dynatrace, or New Relic.
Current cloud-native and open-source accreditations such as CKA, CKAD, OpenTelemetry Certified Associate (OTCA), or Prometheus Certified Associate (PCA).
Current hyperscaler certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect, or Google Cloud Certified Professional.
Excellence in strategy development, including project management, business analysis, and complex problem-solving.
Outstanding business judgment and the ability to combine strategic decision-making with tactical execution.

Responsibilities

Act as the consultative technical authority on Observability Cloud and OpenTelemetry for Partner CX Practice Leads and Principal Architects.
Whiteboard, review, and advise on complex multi-cloud monitoring architectures delivered by partner technical teams, including APM, infrastructure monitoring, log monitoring, digital experience monitoring, and synthetic monitoring.
Guide partners on Kubernetes instrumentation standards, distributed tracing methodologies, and standardizing data ingestion pipelines using the OpenTelemetry Collector.
Provide expert consultative guidance to partner delivery teams to de-risk complex implementations, eliminate deployment friction, and accelerate customer time-to-value.
Develop and execute partner-led customer success strategies.
Drive strategic business model projects.
Influence cross-functional leaders to formulate long-term priorities for ecosystem growth.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability coverage
Basic life insurance
Restricted stock unit grants may be available, subject to eligibility and vesting conditions.
10 paid holidays per full calendar year
One floating holiday for non-exempt employees
One paid day off for an employee’s birthday
Paid year-end holiday shutdown
Four paid days off for personal wellness
Non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year.
Exempt employees participate in a flexible vacation time-off program with no defined usage limit, subject to availability and business limitations.
80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, 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 may be available for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco policies.
Sales-plan employees may be eligible for performance-based incentive pay.