Design Program Manager, AI Transformation & Foundations

Cisco; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 139,000 - 201,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Design Foundations empowers Networking product teams—including Meraki, Catalyst, ThousandEyes, and evolving AI-oriented operations—to deliver coherent, credible, buildable, and AI-ready user experiences at scale. This role drives the AI Transformation and Design Foundations initiatives, building roadmaps, milestones, risks, dependencies, and reporting for cross-portfolio alignment.

You will partner across Design Foundations, Design Ops, product design, research, engineering, security, AI,

Qualifications

• 8+ years of design program management or related experience in a matrixed organization.
• Experience in leading cross-functional programs spanning design, product, engineering, research, and operations.
• Experience driving AI transformation, adoption, capability-building, or change management.
• Experience creating roadmaps, operating models, program documentation, reporting mechanisms, and decision-making processes.
• Strong understanding of product design, user-centered design, design systems, and design-to-engineering workflows.
• Experience with leveraging AI tools to create and scale agents, skills, and automations.

Responsibilities

• Own program management for AI Transformation and Design Foundations initiatives.
• Build roadmaps, milestones, risks, dependencies, and reporting mechanisms for alignment.
• Partner across Design Foundations, Design Ops, product design, research, engineering, security, AI, and product teams.
• Shape prioritization and measurement of AI work to drive durable practice and outcomes.

Skills

Design program management

Cross-functional leadership

AI transformation

Roadmaps & reporting

Product design understanding

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

Figma

Jira

GitHub

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.