Product Manager

Cisco Systems, Inc; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 155,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. seeks a product manager to lead end-to-end lifecycle for enterprise platform capabilities, partnering with global customers and engineering squads.

You will drive customer discovery, translate insights into requirements, and craft actionable roadmaps aligned with complex infrastructure needs of Fortune 500 enterprises. You will champion API-first standards, integrate agentic AI into workflows, and advance secure, developer-friendly solutions across Cisco’s cloud network

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Business, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4+ years of product management, technical product marketing, or related technical experience delivering enterprise software, SaaS, or networking platforms.
• Experience of modern API architectures and standards (e.g., RESTful APIs, OpenAPI/Swagger specifications, webhooks, JSON schemas, or integration middleware).
• Experience using agentic AI tools and systems to improve product management workflows (e.g., research synthesis, PRD drafting, workflow automation, prototyping) and accelerate software development lifecycles.
• Experience conducting structured customer discovery, defining clear PRDs/user stories, and successfully delivering enterprise features through Agile/Scrum development cycles.

Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end product lifecycle for enterprise platform capabilities for Fortune 500 customers.
• Lead customer discovery through structured interviews and telemetry analysis to identify operational friction.
• Translate insights into PRDs and roadmaps and collaborate with engineering squads.

Skills

Product Management

APIs

Agile/Scrum

Structured discovery interviews

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

RESTful APIs

OpenAPI/Swagger

Webhooks

JSON schemas

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/30/2026

Meet the Team

Our Product Management team serves as the engine for delivering scalable, API-first platform capabilities that empower our most significant enterprise customers. As a high-energy, customer-centric Product Manager, you will act as a champion for these partners, uncovering critical usage patterns and translating sophisticated requirements into innovative, actionable features. By employing modern agentic AI and automated workflows, you will accelerate product discovery and software lifecycle execution, ensuring our solutions meet current demands while anticipating the evolving infrastructure needs of our clients.

Your Impact

As a Product Manager at Cisco, you will drive the end-to-end product lifecycle for enterprise platform capabilities, serving as the critical link between our largest global customers and our engineering squads. You will lead customer discovery through structured interviews and telemetry analysis to identify operational friction, translating these insights into high-quality product requirement documents and actionable roadmaps. By fostering deep relationships with network architects and IT leaders, you ensure that our product strategy directly aligns with the complex infrastructure needs of Fortune 500 enterprises.

Your impact will extend to technical and operational excellence as you champion API-first standards, collaborating with architects to deliver performant, secure, and developer-friendly solutions. You will integrate agentic AI systems into our workflows, significantly accelerating product discovery, feedback synthesis, and software delivery cycles. By leading early access programs and conducting continuous competitive analysis, you will validate new capabilities before they reach General Availability. Ultimately, your success will be defined by your ability to drive feature adoption, optimize API usage, and improve overall customer happiness, ensuring Cisco’s solutions remain at the forefront of cloud network management and AI-driven automation.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Business, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4+ years of product management, technical product marketing, or related technical experience delivering enterprise software, SaaS, or networking platforms.
• Experience of modern API architectures and standards (e.g., RESTful APIs, OpenAPI/Swagger specifications, webhooks, JSON schemas, or integration middleware).
• Experience using agentic AI tools and systems to improve product management workflows (e.g., research synthesis, PRD drafting, workflow automation, prototyping) and accelerate software development lifecycles.
• Experience conducting structured customer discovery, defining clear PRDs/user stories, and successfully delivering enterprise features through Agile/Scrum development cycles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven experience of Enterprise Networking architectures (Catalyst, Meraki, Campus Switching, Wireless, Routing, or SD-WAN).
• Practical experience with sophisticated API frameworks (e.g., Model Context Protocol / MCP, GraphQL, gRPC, or streaming telemetry).
• Experience crafting or implementing agentic workflows, autonomous tool integration, or LLM-driven platform features.
• Experience structuring customer early-adopter programs, beta testing, or customer validation cohorts.
• Master’s degree or MBA is a plus.
• Proven record to lead without formal authority, building alignment across engineering, design, sales, and executive partners.
• Outstanding verbal, written, and presentation abilities with confidence engaging directly with enterprise customer partners.
• Strong data-driven mentality with experience analyzing platform usage data, telemetry, and critical metrics to make informed product decisions.

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.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $154,900.00 to $225,300.00 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 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

$154,900.00 - $259,100.00

Non-Metro New York State & Washington State

$136,500.00 - $228,300.00

• 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.