Account Executive - Splunk

Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 317,900 - 401,200; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

10 paid holidays

Flexible vacation time

Performance-based incentive pay

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is hiring for a position focused on driving strategic sales decisions for Splunk's cyber security offerings. Applicants should have a proven record of exceeding sales goals with an emphasis on consultative selling and customer engagement.

The role requires extensive experience in the industry and a Bachelor's degree minimum. Strong verbal and written communication alongside technical aptitude is essential. Cisco offers a competitive salary and a range of benefits including flexible time-off and performance-based incentives.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of related experience for Bachelor's, 8+ years for Master's, or 5+ years for PhD.
• Track record of exceeding sales goals and new business development.
• Self-starter with strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Drive strategic decisions with Splunk customers using SaaS and cloud expertise.
• Maintain understanding of Splunk’s products and services.
• Build sales funnels through opportunity prospecting and closing deals.

Skills

Consultative sales experience

Verbal and written communication skills

Technical aptitude

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

PhD

Job description

The application window closes on 07/30/2026. This role can be performed within the San Francisco, CA Bay Area.

Meet the Team

Splunk, a Cisco company, is building a safer and more resilient digital world with an end‑to‑end full‑stack platform made for a hybrid, multi‑cloud world. Leading enterprises use our unified security and observability platform to keep their digital systems secure and reliable. Come help organizations be their best while you reach new heights with a team that has your back.

Your Impact

Influence and drive strategic decisions within Splunk customers’ buying center by leveraging SaaS and cloud expertise with cybersecurity and observability competitor and market insights. Serve as the Account Orchestrator, aligning and integrating Splunk products, services, and solutions with customers’ strategic goals and needs to drive incremental revenue growth and recurring revenue. Maintain a comprehensive understanding of Splunk’s products, services, and solutions. Liaise with other portfolio sellers to ensure adherence and alignment to GTM processes, tools, and methodologies. Own the legal goal, create and manage a quality pipeline, develop business, negotiate, and close the deal. Build the sales funnel through opportunity prospecting, develop and own opportunities through to sales completion to achieve revenue goals. Analyze data and create forecasts to set weekly, monthly, and quarterly sales commitments. Conduct business and technical evaluations to ensure proposals meet customers’ business objectives. Identify new opportunities, develop proposals, and create account plans. Closely monitor cybersecurity and observability trends, market dynamics, and competitive landscapes.

• Specialization and Focus – Specialist in Splunk solutions, services, and products
• Customer Engagement and Accountability – Primary influencer. Oversee overall customer strategy, value, and relationship. Develop a deep understanding of customer business risk and opportunities to ensure value realization
• The Internal Sales Process – All deal stages. Spend most of the time between prospect/qualification and proposal of the deal
• Corporate Interlock – Low corporate interlock
• Typical Sales Cycle – Medium sales complexity. Average length of deal is 3-6 months but can be as long as 12-18 months in more complex accounts/opportunities. Variable deal size, can be between $50K to $750K (over $1M for SP)
• Success Measures – Sustained Splunk portfolio growth, account growth, account retention, incremental annual contract value (IACV)
• Deals are typically the most significant, involving multiple stakeholders and the entire gamut of Splunk solutions. Typically prospects include C‑suite, including key stakeholders across global organizations
• Serves as go‑to authority on the security and observability market, emerging cloud and SaaS technologies, advise customers on value creation
• Leverage deep knowledge of customer(s) organization structure, business processes, strategic objectives, and challenges to anticipate and meet customer needs and priorities
• Build and nurture relationships with key decision makers, leveraging a deep understanding of their unique perspectives and priorities
• Enable adaptable GTM strategies by advising internal and external stakeholders on security and observability industry shifts, competitor risks and evolving customer needs
• Cultivate trusted C‑suite relationships to deliver transformative business outcomes and long‑term strategic alignment
• Position Splunk as critical for enterprise resilience by delivering visionary insights and industry‑leading solutions tailored to customer long‑term business objectives
• Develop agreements that drive customer success, incremental annual contract value and create sustained value realization for the customer
• Develop and deliver quarterly business outlook (QBOs) portfolio wide proposals, and other prioritization strategy and frameworks
• Integrate account(s) strategy with Splunk business strategy to lead build of incremental growth roadmap
• Drive incremental growth trajectory and position multiple Splunk solutions together to optimize opportunities and build bundling strategies
• Lead high‑impact initiatives around sales tools, technologies, and methods, and drive influence internally and with customer organizations
• Influence company‑wide investment in tools, technologies, and process innovations

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree + 12 years of related experience, or Master’s + 8 years of related experience, or PhD + 5 years of related experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Consultative sales experience and challenging companies/businesses to think differently
• Consistent track record of exceeding goals and quota
• Consistent track record of developing new business and managing sales cycle, from generating leads through closing
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong technical aptitude
• Self-starter able to work independently but also a contributing member of a team
• Highly motivated and professional, with excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Salary Range

The starting salary range posted for this position is $317,900.00 to $401,200.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate’s hiring location, market conditions, job‑related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

Benefits

• 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
• Non‑exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period for full‑time employees
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)
• 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

Performance‑Based Incentive Pay (Sales Roles)

Employees on sales plans earn performance‑based incentive pay on top of their base salary, split between quota and non‑quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan.

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota
• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%
• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation

Additional Incentive Details

• For non‑quota‑based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target
• Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid

Salary Ranges by State

New York City Metro Area: $317,900.00 – $461,500.00
Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state: $304,700.00 – $454,700.00

For quota‑based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non‑exempt, will participate in a unique time‑off program to meet local requirements.