Principal Product Manager - AI Defense (Hyrbid)

Cisco Systems; San Mateo (CA); Hybrid; USD 234,000 - 330,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems is seeking a Principal Product Manager for the AI Defense portfolio in a hybrid role based in San Jose. You will own enterprise AI security capabilities spanning governance, runtime protection, and supply chain, influencing cross-functional teams and external partners to deliver secure, scalable AI platforms.

You will report to executives, shape multi-year strategy, and work with research, engineering, and GTM to translate market needs into differentiated products that scale

Qualifications

• Bachelor's with extensive experience in product management, or advanced degrees with corresponding years of experience.
• Experience defining and delivering enterprise software or cloud platform products.
• Experience building AI, cybersecurity, cloud, identity, networking, observability, or similar enterprise platform products.
• Experience leading cross-functional organizations and securing executive alignment.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end roadmap for a major AI Security product area from concept through production.
• Prioritize strategic investments and roadmap tradeoffs across governance, app/runtime security, and supply chain.
• Drive cross-functional delivery with Engineering, UX, Threat Research, and GTM teams.
• Scale through partnerships with hyperscalers, AI platforms, and developer ecosystems.
• Represent Cisco in executive meetings, industry conferences, and analyst briefings.

Education

Bachelor's + 15 years / Masters + 12 years / PhD + 8 years in Product Management

Enterprise software / cloud platform products

Cross-functional leadership across Engineering, UX, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success

Executive alignment through data-driven business cases

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 12/10/2026

This role is based in San Jose and requires to report into the office in a hybrid model.

Meet the Team

Cisco’s AI Software & Platform Group builds enterprise AI platforms and developer tooling, integrating our networking, security, and observability portfolio with modern AI to power autonomous systems. We improve reinforcement learning, simulation, and predictive analytics to make enterprise AI accurate, grounded, and trustworthy.

As a Principal Product Manager you will define and implement the next generation of AI Security capabilities. You will own a core area of the AI Defense portfolio, driving product strategy, customer adoption, and cross-functional execution across engineering, design, go-to-market (GTM), and research teams. The role focuses on building enterprise AI security capabilities spanning AI application security, agentic AI, runtime protection, AI governance, AI supply chain security, and AI validation. This individual will help shape Cisco’s long-term vision for securing enterprise AI while translating market opportunities into differentiated products that scale globally.

Your Impact

• Own the End-to-End Roadmap: Lead the multi-year vision, strategy, and execution for a major AI Security product area from concept through production and lifecycle management.

• Prioritize Strategic Investments: Drive investment decisions, roadmap prioritization, and tradeoffs across key AI Security domains (governance, application/runtime security, and supply chain).

• Drive Cross-Functional Delivery: Partner with Engineering, Design, Threat Research, and GTM teams to translate market threats and customer requirements into market-leading solutions.

• Scale Through Partnerships: Build and leverage strategic relationships with hyperscalers, AI platforms, and developer ecosystems to drive competitive differentiation and platform adoption.

• Influence & Represent: Serve as a key internal influencer across Cisco’s Security and AI organizations and act as an external leader at executive meetings, industry conferences, and analyst briefings.

• Foster Innovation: Cultivate deep customer, partner, and analyst relationships to define enterprise workflows and cement Cisco as the trusted platform for secure AI.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors + 15 years, or Masters + 12 years, or PhD + 8 years of related experience in Product Management.

• Experience defining and delivering enterprise software or cloud platform products from strategy through general availability (GA).

• Experience building AI, cybersecurity, cloud, identity, networking, observability, or similar enterprise platform products.

• Prior experience leading cross-functional organizations across Engineering, UX, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, and executive stakeholders.

• Experience influencing and securing executive alignmentfor product strategy, investment, and roadmap prioritization through data-driven presentations and business cases.

Preferred Qualifications

• Solid understanding of enterprise AI architectures, large language models (LLMs), AI agents, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), Model Context Protocol (MCP), AI governance, and runtime security.

• Experience developing platform strategies spanning APIs, SDKs, marketplaces, and ecosystem integrations.

• Track record of translating emerging technology trends into commercially successful product strategies.

• Experience working directly with Fortune 500 customers, strategic design partners, and industry analysts.

• Ability to balance long-term platform strategy with near-term execution and customer delivery.

• Passion for building products that simplify enterprise adoption of AI while delivering measurable business 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 $233,900.00 to $330,400.00 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:

$233,900.00 - $380,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$220,900.00 - $344,300.00

• 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.

Cisco is an Affi­ative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis.

Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.