Director, Strategy & Planning

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; North Carolina; On-site; USD 201,000 - 258,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. seeks a Director of Sales SP&O to partner with the SVP of Collaboration, leading the operating cadence, headcount, capacity planning, and annual operating plan development.

You will drive forward-looking demand and pipeline models and build a lean, high-performing team to deliver actionable executive insights. You will collaborate across finance, HR, Chief of Staff, and other teams to shape market strategy, prioritization, and long-range roadmaps, ensuring data-driven

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 15 years of related experience, or Master’s degree with 12 years of related experience, or PhD with 8 years of related experience (or equivalent related work experience).
• 4+ years of supervisory or people management experience.
• 8+ years of experience in sales strategy, planning, or sales operations within the enterprise technology or SaaS industry.

Responsibilities

• Direct the annual operating plan development by integrating targets, resourcing, and investment decisions into a coherent plan and prioritizing budget against strategic impact.
• Lead headcount and capacity planning sized to forward demand, building demand and pipeline coverage models that ensure the business is accurately resourced.
• Run scenario and contingency planning to stress‑test plans, while owning territory analysis, definition, and annual goal‑setting methodologies.
• Build and lead a lean, high‑performing operations team, ensuring the protection of rep capacity and driving sales‑facing change management from design through adoption.
• Govern CRM data quality, oversee the broader sales tool stack, own sales process design, and manage core analytics, deal administration, and vendor management.
• Partner closely with the Finance Business Partner to ensure pipeline and CRM data feeding the forecast process is clean and reliable.
• Contribute to market and segment prioritization, go‑to‑market model design, and long‑range roadmap thinking by capturing competitive intelligence and translating data into actionable executive recommendations.

Skills

Strategic planning

Sales operations

CRM systems

Leadership

Forecasting

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

PhD

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/19/2026

The Global Specialist Strategy, Planning & Operations (SP&O) organization is looking for a Director of Sales SP&O to serve as the primary strategic partner to the SVP of Collaboration. This role operates as part of a coordinated leadership team alongside an existing Chief of Staff, Finance Business Partner, and other key functions. The team focuses on running the operational cadence that keeps the business moving while contributing meaningfully to how the organization thinks about its market and its future. You will be judged on the strategic leverage you create, ensuring the SVP can delegate planning and operations work with full confidence.

Your Impact

In this role, you will own the operating cadence and resource planning that drives the Collaboration business. You will lead headcount, capacity, and annual operating plan development, tying targets and investments into one coherent strategy. What makes this role exciting is the opportunity to move beyond historical tracking to build forward-looking demand and pipeline coverage models that give real visibility into the business. You will build and lead a lean, high‑performing team focused on high‑leveraged work, protect rep capacity, and provide the data and recommendations that shape the executive narrative for ELT and staff‑level conversations.

Responsibilities

• Direct the annual operating plan development by integrating targets, resourcing, and investment decisions into a coherent plan and prioritizing budget against strategic impact.
• Lead headcount and capacity planning sized to forward demand, building demand and pipeline coverage models that ensure the business is accurately resourced.
• Run scenario and contingency planning to stress‑test plans, while owning territory analysis, definition, and annual goal‑setting methodologies.
• Build and lead a lean, high‑performing operations team, ensuring the protection of rep capacity and driving sales‑facing change management from design through adoption.
• Govern CRM data quality, oversee the broader sales tool stack, own sales process design, and manage core analytics, deal administration, and vendor management.
• Partner closely with the Finance Business Partner to ensure pipeline and CRM data feeding the forecast process is clean and reliable.
• Contribute to market and segment prioritization, go‑to‑market model design, and long‑range roadmap thinking by capturing competitive intelligence and translating data into actionable executive recommendations.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 15 years of related experience, or Master’s degree with 12 years of related experience, or PhD with 8 years of related experience (or equivalent related work experience).
• 4+ years of supervisory or people management experience.
• 8+ years of experience in sales strategy, planning, or sales operations within the enterprise technology or SaaS industry.
• Experience managing annual operating planning, headcount/capacity planning, and pipeline/coverage modeling.
• Experience utilizing CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) for sales process design, data governance, and compensation plan design.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with the Collaboration/UCaaS market or adjacent enterprise technology segments.
• Experience within a specialist or overlay sales model, including contributing to go‑to‑market strategy or competitive intelligence work.
• Exceptional cross‑functional collaboration skills, with the ability to partner effectively across finance, HR, Chief of Staff, and other business‑supporting teams.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen, with the ability to build models, translate complex data into actionable recommendations, and communicate effectively at the executive level.
• Ability to anticipate factors that could impact market strategy, resolving complex issues by developing innovative, ground‑breaking solutions.

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 $200,600.00 to $258,400.00 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.

New York City Metro Area: $243,300.00 - $364,400.00 Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state: $217,700.00 - $327,000.00 * 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.

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

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.

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