Partner Ecosystem Lead, Platforms and OEM

Cisco Systems, Inc; United States; Remote; USD 246,000 - 398,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision insurance

401(k) plan with Cisco matching

Paid parental leave

Short and long-term disability

Basic life insurance

RSU grants

Paid holidays and floating holiday

Vacation time off (exempt and non-exem

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. in the United States is hiring a Partner Ecosystem Lead for Platforms & OEM within the Global GTM Incubation & Emerging Technologies team.

You will own a defined ISV/hyperscaler portfolio, qualify partner models, and drive cross-functional workstreams to validate early-stage GTM hypotheses and deliver measurable pilot outcomes. Responsibilities include designing and executing complex joint offers (embedded, sell-to, marketplace), producing route blueprints, and coordinating

Qualifications

• 8+ years experience in partner ecosystem development, managing ISV, neocloud, hyperscaler, or OEM relationships.
• 5+ years validated background in GTM strategy and emerging technologies commercialization.
• 5+ years demonstrated ability to design and execute complex joint offers (embedded, sell-to, sell-through, marketplace).
• Strong technical competence to produce route-specific blueprints covering APIs, tenancy, telemetry, data handling, lifecycle management.

Responsibilities

• Own a defined partner portfolio (ISV, neocloud, hyperscaler, OEM) for incubated platforms and drive value propositions.
• Lead joint-offer design and execution across embedded, sell-to, sell-through, and marketplace models.
• Develop route-specific blueprints (APIs, tenancy, telemetry, RBAC, data handling, branding, lifecycle, partner billing).
• Track opportunities through gates with autonomous ownership and measurable pilot outcomes.

Skills

Partner ecosystem

GTM strategy

Joint offers

APIs & telemetry

Job description

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.

• New York City Metro Area: $266,100.00 - $398,100.00
• Non-Metro New York state & Washington state: $246,300.00 - $380,000.00

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.

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.

• medical, dental and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution
• paid parental leave
• short and long-term disability coverage
• basic life insurance

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
• 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday
• paid year-end holiday shutdown
• 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.

Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.

Cisconians power the future. We make impact as a team, innovating fast and fearlessly to create meaningful solutions on a large scale. The depth and breadth of our technology doesn't just benefit our customers – it also means limitless opportunities for us to experiment and learn. We understand the power each of our unique backgrounds bring when we work together. Because of that, we have a global network of thinkers, doers, experts, and curious creators who help one another do their life’s best work.