Design Program Manager, AI Transformation & Foundations

Cisco Systems, Inc; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 139,000 - 201,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid parental leave

Paid time off and volunteer days

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking an experienced Design Program Manager to lead AI Transformation and Design Foundations initiatives. You will own cross-functional programs spanning design, product, and engineering, building roadmaps, governance, and adoption strategies to scale AI-enabled design practices.

The role emphasizes collaboration across AI, design, and security teams, driving durable practice and measurable outcomes in a fast-paced Cisco environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in design program management or design operations in a matrixed org.
• Ability to lead complex, cross-functional programs across design, product, and engineering.
• Experience driving AI transformation and change management across teams.
• Experience with roadmaps, operating models, and program documentation.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI Transformation and Design Foundations initiatives.
• Build roadmaps, milestones, risks, dependencies, and reporting for AI workstreams.
• Collaborate with Design Foundations, Design Ops, product design, research, engineering, security, AI, and product teams.
• Shape prioritization, delivery, measurement, and communication of AI initiatives.

Skills

Design program management

Cross-functional leadership

AI transformation

Roadmaps & governance

User-centered design

AI tooling for agents/automation

Education

Bachelor's degree + 8 years related experience

Master's degree + 6 years related experience

PhD + 3 years related experience

Tools

Figma

Jira

GitHub

Design systems

Design tokens

Research operations

Design-to-engineering workflows

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 12/30/2026

Meet the Team

Design Foundations empowers Cisco Networking product teams—including Meraki, Catalyst, ThousandEyes, and emerging agentic operations to deliver coherent, credible, buildable, and AI-ready user experiences at scale. Our team works horizontally across the Networking portfolio, unifying UX foundations such as design systems, design language, AI experience standards, content strategy, methodology, governance, tooling, and design quality. We are a collaborative, cross-functional group focused on enabling teams to adopt new methods, standards, and tools with clarity, consistency, and measurable impact. What excites us is driving innovation that shapes how Cisco Networking UX embraces AI-assisted design practices and delivers durable, scalable solutions.

Your Impact

Drive the operating model that enables Cisco Networking UX to adopt AI-assisted design practices at scale. Own program management for AI Transformation and Design Foundations initiatives, including AI methodology, governance, adoption, and cross-portfolio design readiness. Build roadmaps, milestones, risks, dependencies, and reporting mechanisms to keep AI-focused workstreams aligned and progressing. Partner across Design Foundations, Design Ops, product design, research, engineering, security, AI, and product teams to move AI initiatives from exploration to durable practice. Shape how AI work is prioritized, delivered, measured, communicated, and scaled to create measurable outcomes and organizational change.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years of experience related experience, PhD + 3 years of related experience, or equivalent related work experience
• 6+ years of experience in design program management, design operations, product operations, within an outcome-focused and matrixed organization.
• Ability to lead complex, cross-functional programs spanning design, product, engineering, research, operations, or platform teams.
• Experience driving AI transformation, adoption, capability-building, or change management initiatives across multiple teams.
• Experience in creating roadmaps, operating models, program documentation, reporting mechanisms, and decision-making processes.
• Understanding of product design, user-centered design methods, design systems, research, or product development workflows.
• Experience with leveraging latest AI tools to create and scale agents, skills, and automations

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of adoption metrics, maturity models, governance frameworks, enablement plans, or organizational change programs.
• Proficiency with Figma, Jira, GitHub, design systems, design tokens, research operations, or design-to-engineering workflows.
• Experience collaborating with security, legal, procurement, platform, or AI teams to support responsible adoption of new tools or vendors.

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 $139,200.00 to $201,400.00 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

$171,600.00 - $281,800.00

Non-Metro New York State & Washington State

$151,300.00 - $250,900.00

• 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.