Business Operations Manager, Strategic Program Management

Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Life insurance

Vision insurance

Parental leave

Paid holidays

Sick time

401(k)

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Business Operations Manager in the West Region (based in San Jose) to help the Product Strategy, Planning & Operations group run day-to-day with structured planning and reporting.

You will own core processes, provide leadership with clear priorities, progress, resources, risks, and decisions, and partner across product, engineering, GTM, finance and operations. You will enable scalable workflows, build dashboards, and drive improvements in operating rhythms while

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years, or PhD + 3 years, or equivalent relevant work experience.
• 3+ years of experience in business operations, business planning, program management, product operations, go-to-market operations, or a comparable operational role.
• Experience supporting cross-functional planning, operating cadences, reporting, or process improvement in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience using data to analyze and develop insights, track performance, and support business decisions.

Responsibilities

• Manage business operating rhythms, including planning cycles, team cadences, action tracking, and follow-up on key decisions and commitments.
• Build and maintain reporting, dashboards, and performance metrics that help leaders understand business health, progress against priorities, and emerging issues.
• Coordinate cross-functional workstreams by maintaining plans, dependencies, meeting outcomes, risks, and stakeholder communications.
• Analyze operational data and team feedback to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities to improve processes, resource use, and execution.
• Support annual and quarterly planning by collecting inputs, consolidating plans, tracking milestones, and preparing concise materials for leadership reviews.
• Design, document, and continuously improve scalable processes, templates, and operating mechanisms that reduce manual work and improve consistency.
• Enable teams to adopt business tools and automation that improve visibility, accountability, and speed of execution.

Job description

Business Operations Manager, Strategic Program Management

life insurance, vision insurance, parental leave, paid holidays, sick time, 401(k)

The application window is expected to close on: 09/24/2026

Candidates must be based in the West Region for consideration.

Meet the Team

The Strategic Program Management team partners with leaders across Cisco to deliver the organization's most meaningful and ambiguous priorities. We build operating mechanisms that make execution more predictable, scalable, and repeatable: coordinated plans, process forums, decision logs, shared metrics, risk and dependency management, and concise leadership reporting. Reporting to the Director of Strategy & Planning, you will join a team that values practical problem-solving, strong partnership, focused execution, and growth driver outcomes.

Your Impact

As a Business Operations Manager, you will help the Product Strategy, Planning & Operations organization run effectively day to day. You will own core planning, reporting, and operating processes that give leaders and teams a clear view of priorities, progress, resources, risks, and decisions.

You will partner across product, engineering, go-to-market, finance, and operations teams to translate business needs into organized workflows and practical insights. This role is ideal for a detail-oriented operator who can bring structure to complex work, improve how teams collaborate, and use data to drive follow-through. In this role, you will:

• Manage business operating rhythms, including planning cycles, team cadences, action tracking, and follow-up on key decisions and commitments.

• Build and maintain reporting, dashboards, and performance metrics that help leaders understand business health, progress against priorities, and emerging issues.

• Coordinate cross-functional workstreams by maintaining plans, dependencies, meeting outcomes, risks, and stakeholder communications.

• Analyze operational data and team feedback to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities to improve processes, resource use, and execution.

• Support annual and quarterly planning by collecting inputs, consolidating plans, tracking milestones, and preparing concise materials for leadership reviews.

• Design, document, and continuously improve scalable processes, templates, and operating mechanisms that reduce manual work and improve consistency.

• Enable teams to adopt business tools and automation that improve visibility, accountability, and speed of execution.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years of related experience, or PhD + 3 years of related experience, or equivalent relevant work experience.

• 3+ years of experience in business operations, business planning, program management, product operations, go-to-market operations, or a comparable operational role.

• Experience supporting cross-functional planning, operating cadences, reporting, or process improvement in a fast-paced environment.

• Experience using data to analyze and develop insights, track performance, and support business decisions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to organize complex information into clear updates and action-oriented materials.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, build productive partnerships, and drive follow-through without direct authority.

• Experience in enterprise technology, SaaS, product management, product operations, go-to-market execution, or customer lifecycle programs.

• Experience creating and maintaining Airtable bases, interfaces, automations, and reporting workflows that improve team visibility, coordination, or decision-making.

• Demonstrated success driving adoption of Airtable or similar work-management tools, including translating business needs into practical, scalable solutions.

• Familiarity with AI-enabled productivity and automation tools, including AI assistants or coding agents such as Codex, and a thoughtful approach to using them responsibly to streamline analysis, documentation, reporting, or operational workflows.

• Experience with dashboards, CRM/reporting tools, financial analysis, and program-management methodologies.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we're revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era - and beyond. We've been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you'll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $134,500.00 to $176,200.00 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.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco's plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and