Program Manager: Financial Services Operations

Cisco•San Jose, CA

17h•Hybrid

About The Position

Cisco is seeking a Senior Manager, Finance PMO, to provide strategic support to the SVP of Corporate Finance and the broader FP&A organization. This high-impact leadership role is responsible for driving organizational transformation, innovation, and operational excellence at scale. You will run critically important programs across global Finance teams and cross-functional partners, ensuring transparency and alignment with corporate objectives. By demonstrating critical thinking and operational difficulty, you will reduce organizational friction, standardize operational practices, and champion the adoption of AI and new technologies to enable scalable automation and predictive insights. You will serve as a key partner to teams across Finance (including Corporate, GTM, and Product FP&A) and cross-functional organizations such as IT, People, Engineering, and Pricing. Your success will be defined by your ability to plan and implement effectively, encouraging collaboration across teams with varied strengths to drive transformative change.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, or a related field.
8+ years of experience in Strategy, Operations, FP&A, or Management Consulting, including at least 3 years of direct support to a senior executive (VP/SVP level).
Demonstrated expertise in running company-wide strategic planning cycles and leading large-scale, cross-functional programs.
Outstanding communication and presentation skills, with a validated ability to craft compelling, high-level narratives for executive audiences.
Deep experience in process optimization and driving technology-led transformation within a Finance or Operations organization.
Ability to operate with a high degree of independence, manage ambiguity, and thrive in a fast-paced, sophisticated environment.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency with project management tools and financial systems.
Validated experience demonstrating data and implementing AI or automation tools within a finance environment.
Validated ability to build dashboards, cross-departmental KPIs, and present unified progress narratives to the CFO, CIO, and other C-suite executives.
SQL or Python experience is considered a strong asset.

Responsibilities

Partner with departmental teams to systematically define key roles and responsibilities.
Conduct comprehensive current-state process mapping to uncover operational bottlenecks and dependencies.
Act as a primary partner in the execution and monitoring of the Annual Company Plan, ensuring all finance-led initiatives are rigorously aligned with corporate strategic objectives.
Facilitate the annual Corporate Finance goal-setting process and be responsible for the execution and tracking of these objectives.
Run sophisticated, cross-functional programs in collaboration with partners from IT, Engineering, Sales, and global Finance teams.
Lead high-priority, ad hoc strategic projects to support critical Finance leadership requirements as they emerge.
Drive the AI automation lifecycle wherever possible, translating manual, repetitive, or legacy workflows into streamlined, AI-assisted operations across FP&A and broader enterprise functions.
Evangelize and implement the AI automation roadmap across the entire company, ensuring local automation successes are scaled into global, platform-level capabilities.
Ensure the achievement of success criteria and metrics through partner enablement and rigorous process management.
Partner with internal and cross-functional teams to implement scalable, automated solutions that leverage AI to improve decision-making.
Support the strategic build and development of the Corporate Finance organization to ensure it effectively scales with Cisco’s growth.
Facilitate executive-level communications, including the preparation of agendas and content for leadership meetings and Corporate Finance all-hands sessions.
Provide, transparent reporting on project progress, risks, and performance outcomes to leadership.

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 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
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