Partner Ecosystem Lead, Platforms and OEM

Cisco Systems, Inc; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 266,000 - 346,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid parental leave

Short and long-term disability

Life insurance

RSU grants

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Partner Ecosystem Lead for Platforms & OEM within the Global GTM Incubation & Emerging Technologies team. You will own a defined partner portfolio, qualify models, and drive joint offers and route-specific blueprints to validate early-stage GTM hypotheses.

You will coordinate with senior stakeholders, track opportunities through validation gates, and deliver measurable pilots and commercial outcomes across embedded, sell-to, sell-through, and marketplace models.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in partner ecosystem development with ISV, neocloud, hyperscaler, or OEM relationships.
• 5+ years in GTM strategy for emerging technologies commercialization, including securing early-stage customer wins.
• 5+ years designing and executing complex joint offers (embedded, sell-to, sell-through, marketplace).

Responsibilities

• Own a defined portfolio of ISV, neocloud, hyperscaler, and frontier-model-provider partners.
• Qualify partner models, form joint value propositions, and drive product–commercial workstreams.
• Produce route-specific blueprints (APIs, tenancy, telemetry, RBAC, data handling, lifecycle, partner billing).
• Track opportunities through validation gates with autonomous ownership and measurable pilots.

Skills

Partner ecosystem development

GTM strategy

Joint offers design

Technical blueprinting

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/28/2026.

Meet the Team

You will join the Global GTM Incubation & Emerging Technologies team, responsible for commercializing and scaling Cisco’s newest technology innovations. Sourced directly from our Product and Business Units, these rapid innovations require a specialized, agile approach to find market fit before they can be absorbed by the mainstream sales force. Our mission is to partner with Product leaders to develop, test, and validate early-stage GTM hypotheses. We will work to secure the company’s first "lighthouse" customer wins and build the repeatable sales and partner playbooks required to bring these products into the broader Specialist and Generalist sales organizations.

Your Impact

As our Partner Ecosystem Lead for Platforms & OEM, for our products under Incubation, you will own a defined ISV, neocloud/hyperscaler, and frontier-model-provider portfolio. You will qualify partner models and customer routes, form joint value propositions, and drive product and technical-commercial workstreams for embedded, sell-to, sell-through, marketplace, and OEM offers. You will produce route‑specific blueprints covering API/SDK, tenancy, entitlement, metering, telemetry, RBAC, data handling, branding, lifecycle, support, and partner billing. Operating as an autonomous individual contributor, you will track partner opportunities through validation gates, ensuring independent partner‑plan ownership, complex joint‑offer design and execution, senior stakeholder coordination, and measurable pilot and commercial outcomes within your assigned portfolio.

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years experience in partner ecosystem development, specifically managing ISV, neocloud, hyperscaler, or OEM relationships.
• 5+ years validated background in Go‑To‑Market (GTM) strategy and emerging technologies commercialization, including securing early‑stage customer wins.
• 5+ years of demonstrated ability to design and execute complex joint offers, including embedded, sell‑to, sell‑through, and marketplace models.
• Strong technical competence with the ability to produce route‑specific blueprints covering APIs, tenancy, telemetry, data handling, and lifecycle management.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced financial and P&L literacy to validate architecture, economics, and contract structures for partner offers.
• Expertise in strategic negotiation for complex technical‑commercial workstreams and partner billing models.
• Experience building repeatable sales and partner playbooks for early‑stage technology incubation.
• Deep understanding of neocloud taxonomy, frontier‑model providers, and route‑specific economics.
• Proven ability to operate autonomously while tracking partner opportunities and validation gates to measurable commercial outcomes.

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 $266,100.00 to $346,200.00 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.

Benefits and perks for U.S. employees

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.

Paid time away

• 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

Bonus and Incentive payment for non‑sales roles

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

Salary ranges by state

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area

$266,100.00 - $398,100.00

Non‑Metro New York State & Washington State

$246,300.00 - $380,000.00

Notes for some roles

• 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.