Customer & Partner Advisory Boards Lead

Cisco Systems, Inc; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision insurance

401(k) with Cisco matching

Paid parental leave

disability coverage

Basic life insurance

Volunteer time off (10 days/year)

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a senior leader to design and manage global Customer Advisory Board programs within the CX Marketing portfolio. You will transform customer and partner feedback into actionable intelligence to influence product roadmaps and market messaging, guiding investment decisions.

In this role you will orchestrate cross-functional programs, engage with executives, and drive measurable impact through customer-led initiatives in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + 12 years of related experience, OR Master's degree + 8 years of related experience.
• Proven experience leading portfolios of strategic programs with enterprise-wide impact, ideally within a large, matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated experience building and implementing customer and/or partner advisory programs.
• Proven ability to manage end-to-end lifecycles for complex, cross-functional projects.

Responsibilities

• Customer Advisory Board Strategy and Execution: Define, develop, and manage a global CX Customer Advisory Board program.
• Partner Advisory Board Strategy and Execution: Define and champion a CX Partner Advisory Board across geographies.
• Community Engagement: Engage with Cisco Communities and Ask Cisco IQ; drive CX PM/Marketing to practitioner communities.
• Actionable Intelligence: Transform customer feedback into data-driven insights to guide executive decisions.

Skills

Program leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Advisory programs

End-to-end project lifecycle

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/26/2026

Meet the Team

The Customer Experience (CX) Marketing team is responsible for differentiating Cisco's CX - positioning it as a personalized, proactive, and predictive experience that defines our market leadership.

Your Impact

You will design and curate advisory board programs, orchestrate high-value feedback loops, and transform insights from customers and partners into actionable intelligence that shapes product roadmaps and validates positioning. This role is critical to maintaining the momentum of Cisco IQ by leading strategic programs and utilizing the insights to directly shape future product roadmaps, validate positioning and messaging, and guide investment decisions.

Responsibilities include:

• Customer Advisory Board Strategy and Execution: Define, develop, and manage a global CX Customer Advisory Board program. Manage and nurture a community of customers as trusted advisors.
• Partner Advisory Board Strategy and Execution: Define and champion a CX Partner Advisory Board across geographies.

• Community Engagement:Engage with and nurture practitioner programs like Cisco Communities and Ask Cisco IQ. Drive the engagement from CX Product Management and Marketing into the practitioner communities.

• Actionable Intelligence: Orchestrate high-value feedback loops to transform customer insights into actionable, data-driven intelligence. Drive stronger understanding of customer needs across CXPM, and synthesize customer and partner feedback to guide executive decisions and planning.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + 12 years of related experience, OR Master's degree + 8 years of related experience
• Proven experience leading portfolios of strategic programs with enterprise-wide impact, ideally within a large, matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated experience building and implementing customer and/or partner advisory programs.
• Proven ability to manage end-to-end lifecycles for complex, cross-functional projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Excellent cross-functional collaboration, serving as a trusted advisor to executive leadership.
• Strong communication skills and proven ability to drive measurable impact through customer-led initiatives.
• Strategic thinker who prioritizes customer points of view and uses data/AI to synthesize insights.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and adapt to shifting priorities with operational complexity.

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 $174,600.00 to $235,000.00 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 ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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:

$174,600.00 - $274,400.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$164,700.00 - $241,900.00

* 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.