Product Readiness Manager

Cisco Systems; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems in the United States is seeking a Product Readiness Manager to translate strategic direction into actionable priorities and milestones for product and Go‑to‑Market readiness. You will lead cross‑functional initiatives and provide analyses to guide resource allocation and risk management, ensuring launch readiness.

You will collaborate with Product Management, Sales Enablement, Partner Enablement, and Customer Experience to align priorities and drive execution across the

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 7+ years of relevant professional experience, or a Master’s degree and 4+ years.
• Experience managing projects, programs, or strategic initiatives with cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Experience driving cross‑functional initiatives from planning through execution.
• Experience supporting Go‑to‑Market, product readiness, or launches.

Responsibilities

• Translate strategic direction into actionable priorities, initiatives, milestones, and planning tools.
• Lead cross‑functional Go‑to‑Market readiness initiatives for new products and releases.
• Partner with Product Management, Sales Enablement, Partner Enablement, and Customer Experience to align priorities and drive execution.
• Analyze business, product, market, and program information to identify risks, opportunities, and trade‑offs.
• Develop and maintain planning frameworks, status updates, and risk/issue tracking.

Skills

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Go-to-Market planning

Risk analysis

Strategic prioritization

Plan and milestone tracking

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

PMP certification

AI tools

Project management software

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/22/2026

Meet the Team

The Product Readiness Management team partners closely with Product Management and cross‑functional organizations to translate product strategy into actionable priorities and ensure products and software releases are ready for market. The team brings together stakeholders across Product, Sales Enablement, Partner Enablement, Customer Experience, and other functions to align strategic priorities, manage dependencies, and drive successful Go‑to‑Market execution.

Your Impact

As a Product Readiness Manager, you will translate strategic direction into actionable priorities, initiatives, milestones, and decision frameworks that support product and Go‑to‑Market objectives. You will provide cross‑functional leaders with clear analyses and recommendations to guide resource allocation, risk management, prioritization, and release readiness while driving alignment across the organization. Responsibilities include:

• Translate strategic direction into actionable priorities, initiatives, milestones, decision forums, and planning tools, providing recommendations that support business and product objectives.

• Lead cross‑functional Go‑to‑Market readiness initiatives for new products, software releases, and portfolio programs, coordinating priorities, milestones, dependencies, and deliverables.

• Partner with Product Management, Sales Enablement, Partner Enablement, Customer Experience, and other cross‑functional stakeholders to align strategic priorities and drive execution.

• Analyze business, product, market, and program information to identify risks, opportunities, dependencies, and trade‑offs and provide recommendations to cross‑functional leaders.

• Develop and maintain planning frameworks, status updates, risk/issue tracking, and performance insights to support prioritization, resource alignment, and successful product readiness.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 7+ years of relevant professional experience, or a Master's degree and 4+ years of relevant professional experience.

• Experience managing projects, programs, or strategic initiatives with multiple cross‑functional stakeholders.

• Experience driving cross‑functional initiatives from planning through execution, including managing milestones, dependencies, risks, and deliverables.

• Experience supporting Go‑to‑Market, product readiness, product launches, or similar cross‑functional business initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP certification or demonstrated experience applying project/program management methodologies.

• Experience working with senior stakeholders and influencing decisions across teams without direct authority.

• Experience in a technology, networking, software, hardware, or similarly complex product environment.

• Experience with Go‑to‑Market strategy, product launches, product readiness, or sales/partner enablement.

• Experience using AI tools or AI‑enabled capabilities to improve productivity, planning, analysis, or business decision‑making.

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 $148,800.00 to $208,200.00 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.

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:

$148,800.00 - $238,300.00

Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state:

$143,600.00 - $211,900.00

• 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 Affi…

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