Leader, Business Operations

Cisco Systems, Inc; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 149,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental and vision insurance

401(k) with Cisco matching

Paid parental leave

Paid time off

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Finance & Business Operations Manager to establish operational discipline and financial governance for AI investments across the Product organization.

You will develop executive dashboards to monitor AI spend, adoption trends, and budget performance, while building forecasting models and a value-realization framework to connect AI outcomes to productivity gains. The role collaborates across Finance, Engineering, Product, and IT to automate reporting and drive

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Engineering, CS or related field with 8+ years of experience (or Master’s with 6+ years).
• 8+ years in business operations, FP&A, or corporate strategic planning in enterprise tech/cloud software.
• 5+ years building complex financial models, scenario forecasts, budget actuals reconciliations, ROI/business cases.
• 3+ years developing executive-level data visualizations and management reports (Tableau/Power BI/Excel).
• Experience delivering executive-ready presentations and board/ELT briefings.

Responsibilities

• Establish operational discipline, financial governance, and executive insights for AI investments across Cisco’s Product org.
• Build and maintain executive dashboards and scorecards for AI spend, usage, and budget performance.
• Develop dynamic forecasting and scenario models for adoption growth and multi-year investments.
• Create a value-realization framework linking AI adoption to measurable outcomes and efficiency gains.

Skills

Executive data visuals

Cross-functional collaboration

Forecasting & scenario modeling

Stakeholder management

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business/Finance/Economics/Engineering/CS

MBA or quantitative master’s degree

Tools

Tableau

Power BI

Advanced Excel modeling

Job description

Meet the Team

The Finance Operations (FinOps) team within Cisco’s Product organization serves as a strategic business partner, ensuring every dollar of capital and operational investment is maximized across our product portfolio. We drive operational excellence, financial governance, and data-backed decision-making to optimize high-impact growth initiatives across Cisco. We are a high-performing, analytical, and collaborative group that thrives at the intersection of product strategy, engineering delivery, and financial rigor. What makes this team exciting is the unique opportunity to shape the financial operating model and value-realization framework for Cisco’s next-generation enterprise AI investments at global scale.

Your Impact

As a Finance & Business Operations Manager, you will establish the operational discipline, financial governance, and executive insights required to manage and optimize AI investments across Cisco’s Product organization. You will build and maintain executive dashboards and scorecards to provide leadership with standardized visibility into AI spend, usage trends, and budget performance. You will develop dynamic forecasting and scenario models to anticipate adoption growth, vendor cost drivers, and multi-year investment requirements. Additionally, you will establish a comprehensive value-realization framework to connect AI adoption directly to measurable outcomes, such as productivity gains, cost avoidance, and operational efficiency. By partnering cross-functionally across Finance, Engineering, Product, and IT, you will eliminate reporting inefficiencies and deliver automated, repeatable processes that drive transparent, data-driven decision‑making.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 8+ years of related professional experience (or Master’s degree with 6+ years of experience, or equivalent practical experience).
• 8+ years of experience in business operations, financial analysis, FP&A, or corporate strategic planning within an enterprise technology or cloud software environment.
• 5+ years of hands‑on experience building complex financial models, scenario forecasts, budget actuals reconciliations, or ROI/business cases.
• 3+ years of experience developing executive‑level data visualizations and management reports using tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or advanced Excel modeling.
• Demonstrated experience developing and delivering executive‑ready presentations, business reviews, or Board/ELT briefing materials.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Master’s degree in a quantitative or technical discipline.
• Direct experience establishing FinOps practices, cloud unit economics, or tracking investments and consumption for AI/ML and infrastructure workloads.
• Familiarity with enterprise ERP and planning systems (such as SAP, Hyperion, Essbase, or Anaplan).
• Relevant industry certifications in financial management, FinOps (e.g., FinOps Certified Practitioner), or program management (e.g., PMP, Lean Six Sigma).
• Strong cross‑functional leadership, stakeholder management, and negotiation skills across matrixed engineering, finance, and go‑to‑market teams.

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 $148,500.00 to $193,300.00 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:

$148,500.00 - $234,600.00

Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state:

$135,400.00 - $215,200.00

* 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.