Strategy & Planning Manager
About The Position
The Strategy & Planning Manager works on Cisco’s Security and Trust Organization (S&TO) team, which connects strategic cybersecurity priorities with operational plans across multiple organizational pillars and workstreams. The role collaborates across security, trust, product, and engineering, and works through influence and coalition-building rather than formal authority to give leadership a unified view of priorities and progress. The manager consolidates program strategies and priorities across Cisco workstreams, coordinates cross-functional stakeholders, and produces leadership-ready presentations, scorecards, and decision documents. The role owns and develops program governance, success metrics, and definitions of done, and uses structured frameworks and AI-assisted tools to scale planning, documentation, and coordination.
Requirements
- At least 8 years of senior-level experience in technical program management, strategy and operations, or business operations, preferably with exposure to security or engineering.
- Experience managing cross-functional programs within Cisco core business segments such as Networking, Security, Collaboration, or Cloud Security.
- Ability to influence and build coalitions across engineering, security, and business stakeholders without direct authority.
- Strong systems-thinking skills and ability to create structured frameworks and prioritization models for ambiguous, cross-functional problems.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including producing clear, executive-ready decks, scorecards, and one-pagers.
Nice To Haves
- Familiarity with Agile methodologies or Agile Commit-style operating models and organizational rhythms.
- Domain knowledge in AI, security/vulnerability management, secure software supply chain, or secure build pipeline concepts.
- Experience building or maintaining program dashboards, scorecards, or portfolio-tracking tools.
- Hands-on experience using AI tools to enhance planning, documentation, or coordination.
- Familiarity with business models and processes such as OKRs, KPIs, VSEM, V2MOM, and QBRs.
Responsibilities
- Consolidate program strategies and priorities across Cisco workstreams into a coherent, actionable source of truth for leadership.
- Build and coordinate a cross-functional virtual team, influencing mid-to-senior leaders and supporting complex decision-making.
- Develop leadership-ready presentations, scorecards, and decision documents under tight deadlines.
- Own and evolve program governance, including success metrics and definitions of done, to unify initiatives.
- Use structured frameworks and AI-assisted tools to scale planning, documentation, and coordination.
Benefits
- Medical insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- 401(k) with Cisco matching contribution
- Paid parental leave
- Short- and long-term disability coverage
- Basic life insurance
- Paid holidays
- Floating holiday for non-exempt employees
- Paid birthday day off
- Paid year-end holiday shutdown
- Personal wellness days
- Paid vacation or flexible vacation time off, depending on employee classification
- Sick time off
- Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues
- Optional paid volunteer days
- Annual bonuses for eligible non-sales employees
- Potential Cisco restricted stock unit grants
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
