Chief of Staff

Cisco Systems; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 267,000 - 338,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Annual bonus eligibility

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

Cisco Systems is seeking a Chief of Staff for the Silicon One team to drive product strategy, architecture, and business operations. You will coordinate leadership activities, provide timely updates, and influence cross-functional teams during a period of rapid transformation.

You will interact with the SVP and GM, ensure progress on key initiatives, and shape communications to stakeholders outside Cisco as a primary spokesperson for the group.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 15 years of progressive leadership experience within a high-technology product organization.
• Bachelor's Degree in a technical, business, or communications-focused discipline.
• Prior experience in a company developing Semiconductor or Technology products.
• Experience in high-level business operations—product strategy, financial planning, and program management.

Responsibilities

• Orchestrate and coordinate activities across the GM and leadership team, delegating across topics and ensuring forward progress.
• Act as a visible spokesperson for the organization to stakeholders inside and outside Cisco.
• Lead organizational transformation and drive positive outcomes for the company and business units.

Skills

Leadership experience

Stakeholder communication

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Time management under pressure

Education

Bachelor's Degree in technical, business, or communications-focused discipline

Master's degree (preferred)

PMP certification (preferred)

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 12/17/2026

Meet the Team:

The Silicon One team creates innovative hardware platforms central to the AI era, powering Cisco's core Switching, Routing, and Wireless products for organizations globally. Our innovations in silicon, optics, and hardware platforms are shaping the technology industry. We're a global team of creative experts, bringing our unique backgrounds and bold ideas to push boundaries and help each other grow. Because full product development—from design to qualification to production is within our team, we're able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly. Join us to power the future of the digital world.

Cisco's Silicon One organization is responsible for creating the silicon chips and related technologies that power Cisco's hardware portfolio for enterprise, service provider, data center, and AI applications. As one of the fastest growing teams within Cisco, the Silicon One team is on the cutting edge of advanced technologies serving the next generation of networking systems for hyperscale AI compute clusters.

Your Impact:

As chief of staff reporting to the SVP and General Manager, you will be a critical member of the Silicon One Business Leadership team which is responsible for product strategy and architecture, product definition, financial planning, business operations, program management, silicon parter and ecosystem development, silicon customer support, employee communications, and intra-company cross-functional coordination.

• You will be accountable for orchestrating and coordinating activities across the GM and the leadership team, effectively delegating activities across a wide spectrum of topics, providing critical information and time sensitive updates to the leadership team, and ensuring forward progress on key initiatives in a rapidly changing environment.
• As a visible spokesperson for the organization, you will work closely with the leadership team to demonstrate responsiveness and clarity of thought-and-message to stakeholders inside and outside of Cisco.
• This is an opportunity to be a key part of a team leading an organizational transformation and influencing an industry amidst a generational transformation, with personal responsibility for driving positive outcomes for the company and its business units.

Minimum Requirements:

• Minimum of 15 years of progressive leadership experience within a high-technology product organization.
• Bachelor's Degree in a technical, business, or communications-focused discipline.
• Prior experience in a company developing Semiconductor or Technology products.
• Prior experience in high-level business operations—including product strategy, financial planning, and program management—ideally within a hardware or silicon-based technology organization.
• Prior experience managing high-volume, time-sensitive executive workloads, including effective triage, delegation, and the ability to drive progress in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
• Prior experience facilitating large-scale organizational transformations and influencing cross-functional teams to align with long-term business goals undefined.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree and active Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• Prior experience within Cisco's operational environment preferred.
• Experience fostering partnerships and drive alignment across diverse, complex organizational structures.
• High capacity for rapid technical knowledge acquisition; ability to translate new technology trends into actionable business insights.
• Comprehensive working knowledge of the semiconductor lifecycle, spanning design, manufacturing, business planning, and market execution.

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 $266,800.00 to $337,900.00 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 basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco's policies:

• 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 rate of 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

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco's policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .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%; and
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

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.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$266,800.00 - $388,600.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$237,300.00 - $345,800.00

• 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.

Cisco is an Affiantive Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis.

Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.