Program Manager: Financial Services Operations

Cisco; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco is seeking a Senior Manager, Finance PMO to lead strategic programs across global Finance and cross-functional teams. You will drive transformation, standardize practices, and enable scalable automation and predictive insights, reporting to SVP Corporate Finance.

You will partner with IT, Engineering, Pricing, and other FP&A groups to define roles, align on the Annual Plan, and monitor execution of finance initiatives with measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, or a related field.
• 8+ years in Strategy, Operations, FP&A, or Management Consulting.
• Experience supporting senior executives (VP/SVP level).
• Proven ability to lead large cross-functional programs and strategic planning cycles.
• Strong communication and narrative skills for executive audiences.

Responsibilities

• Define roles and map current processes to expose bottlenecks.
• Lead annual strategic alignment and monitor corporate finance goals.
• Execute cross-functional programs with IT, Engineering, Sales, and Finance.
• Drive AI automation across FP&A and enterprise functions.
• Provide transparent reporting on progress, risks, and outcomes to leadership.

Skills

Strategy

Operations

FP&A

Management Consulting

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, or related field

Tools

SQL

Python

Project management tools

Financial systems

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/15/2026

Members of the Finance organization at select locations will generally be expected to follow a hybrid work model, which includes two days of in-office attendance each week, with limited exceptions.

Your Impact :

Cisco is seeking a Senior Manager, Finance PMO, to provide strategic support to the SVP of Corporate Finance and the broader FP&A organization. This high-impact leadership role is responsible for driving organizational transformation, innovation, and operational excellence at scale. You will run critically important programs across global Finance teams and cross-functional partners, ensuring transparency and alignment with corporate objectives.

By demonstrating critical thinking and operational difficulty, you will reduce organizational friction, standardize operational practices, and champion the adoption of AI and new technologies to enable scalable automation and predictive insights. You will serve as a key partner to teams across Finance (including Corporate, GTM, and Product FP&A) and cross-functional organizations such as IT, People, Engineering, and Pricing. Your success will be defined by your ability to plan and implement effectively, encouraging collaboration across teams with varied strengths to drive transformative change.

Corporate Finance Project and Program Management

• Role Definition & Process Mapping: Partner with departmental teams to systematically define key roles and responsibilities. Conduct comprehensive current-state process mapping to uncover operational bottlenecks and dependencies.
• Annual Strategic Alignment: Act as a primary partner in the execution and monitoring of the Annual Company Plan, ensuring all finance-led initiatives are rigorously aligned with corporate strategic objectives.
• Goal Execution: Facilitate the annual Corporate Finance goal-setting process and be responsible for the execution and tracking of these objectives.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Run sophisticated, cross-functional programs in collaboration with partners from IT, Engineering, Sales, and global Finance teams.
• Ad Hoc Initiatives: Lead high-priority, ad hoc strategic projects to support critical Finance leadership requirements as they emerge.

Corporate Finance Operational Excellence & Transformation

• End-to-End AI Automation: Drive the AI automation lifecycle wherever possible, translating manual, repetitive, or legacy workflows into streamlined, AI-assisted operations across FP&A and broader enterprise functions.
• Organization-Wide AI Scaling: Evangelize and implement the AI automation roadmap across the entire company, ensuring local automation successes are scaled into global, platform-level capabilities.
• Metrics & Enablement: Ensure the achievement of success criteria and metrics through partner enablement and rigorous process management.
• Scalable Solutions: Partner with internal and cross-functional teams to implement scalable, automated solutions that leverage AI to improve decision-making.

Communication & Alignment

• Organizational Design: Support the strategic build and development of the Corporate Finance organization to ensure it effectively scales with Cisco's growth.
• Executive Facilitation: Facilitate executive-level communications, including the preparation of agendas and content for leadership meetings and Corporate Finance all-hands sessions.
• Reporting: Provide, transparent reporting on project progress, risks, and performance outcomes to eadership.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in Strategy, Operations, FP&A, or Management Consulting, including at least 3 years of direct support to a senior executive (VP/SVP level).
• Demonstrated expertise in running company-wide strategic planning cycles and leading large-scale, cross-functional programs.
• Outstanding communication and presentation skills, with a validated ability to craft compelling, high-level narratives for executive audiences.
• Deep experience in process optimization and driving technology-led transformation within a Finance or Operations organization.
• Ability to operate with a high degree of independence, manage ambiguity, and thrive in a fast-paced, sophisticated environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proficiency with project management tools and financial systems.
• Validated experience demonstrating data and implementing AI or automation tools within a finance environment.
• Validated ability to build dashboards, cross-departmental KPIs, and present unified progress narratives to the CFO, CIO, and other C-suite executives.
• SQL or Python experience is considered a strong asset.

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 custom