Critical Accounts Manager

Cisco Systems, Inc; North Carolina; On-site; USD 96,000 - 126,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Major Incident Manager to lead high-priority incidents, mobilize engineering teams, and translate complex problems into actionable plans. You will communicate with executives and customers, ensuring rapid restoration and continuous improvement across distributed systems.

The role requires handling global incidents in a 24/7 coverage model with on-call rotations and a focus on measurable runbooks, governance, and post‑incident learning.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in incident management or related operations.
• 3+ years leading major incidents and cross-functional response teams.
• Hands-on SaaS operations experience or incident management ticketing exposure.

Responsibilities

• Lead high-priority incidents from intake through recovery as the primary command.
• Coordinate cross-functional engineering teams and remove blockers during incidents.
• Translate technical conditions into clear updates for executives and customers.
• Maintain transparency with a single source of truth using tools like Jira and Slack.
• Drive post-incident reviews to capture lessons and improve response.

Skills

Incident management

SRE

Cloud operations

Technical program management

SaaS experience

Education

ITIL Foundations certification

Tools

Incident.io

Jira

Slack

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/12/2026

The successful applicant will be performing work in FedRAMP environments, and therefore, must be a U.S. Person (i.e. U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident, asylee, or refugee). This position may also perform work that the U.S. government has specified can only be performed by a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil.

Meet the Team

Splunk is the heart of enterprise resilience, and our team is the pulse of that mission. We are a global, inclusive group of authentic problem-solvers who thrive under pressure and bring our whole selves to work. By operating as a unified global unit that values transparency, mutual respect, and continuous learning, we turn technical chaos into orderly recovery and build stronger, more resilient infrastructure for the future.

Your Impact

As a Major Incident Manager, you are the calm in the storm and the conductor of the orchestra when high-priority incidents hit. Your role is to take control, mobilize the right engineering experts, and translate complex technical situations into a clear, actionable plan. You won't just be managing tickets; you’ll be the bridge between technical diagnosis and executive visibility, ensuring that customer-impacting issues are resolved with precision and speed. We look for candidates who have a blend of technical operations experience and the emotional intelligence to navigate high-pressure situations. You should be comfortable leading global teams and be ready to jump into complex distributed systems environments.

• Lead high-priority incidents from intake through recovery, acting as the primary point of command.
• Orchestrate cross-functional engineering teams, removing coordination blockers and keeping the response focused.
• Distill complex technical conditions into clear, factual updates for executive stakeholders and customers.
• Maintain a "single source of truth" using tools like Incident.io, Jira, and Slack to ensure transparency.
• Drive post-incident reviews to capture lessons learned, turning yesterday’s failures into tomorrow’s optimizations.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience
• 3+ years of Major Incident Management, SRE, Cloud Operations, or technical program management.
• Experience supporting SaaS solutions, hands‑on technical experience in the engineering realm or experience working through an incident management ticketing system supporting technology products.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience using Splunk or similar enterprise observability and security platforms
• Proven experience leading complex, customer-impacting incidents involving multiple technical teams.
• Strong understanding of SaaS, cloud environments, distributed systems, and observability signals.
• Demonstrated ability to influence without authority, manage conflict, and prioritize under pressure.
• ITIL Foundations certification or equivalent formal training in incident management.
• Experience building or maturing incident management standards, scorecards, or metrics.
• History of facilitating incident simulations, "game days," or coaching Incident Commanders.
• Background in developing documentation, runbooks, or governance models for global teams.

Work Pattern

This role participates in a global coverage model operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and requires flexibility for four 10‑hour shifts per week, regional handoffs, nights, weekends, holidays, and occasional extended incident response. On‑call participation will be required based on coverage and incident needs. The role is expected to maintain sustainable response practices and use documented handoffs rather than relying on informal after‑hours coverage.

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 $95,800.00 to $126,200.00 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 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.

• 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

$119,600.00 - $174,200.00

Non‑Metro New York State & Washington State

$103,400.00 - $166,000.00

• 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.