Project Manager

Cisco; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 116,000 - 151,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco is seeking a Project Manager for Global Lab Planning and Strategy to lead multi-year lab infrastructure strategies and cross-functional initiatives. You will coordinate planning, budgeting, and execution across engineering, facilities, IT, and vendors to ensure scalable, compliant lab environments that support Cisco's product roadmap and innovation.

The role emphasizes collaboration, automation, and supplier coordination, with a strong focus on performance metrics and risk management in a

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical or related field.
• 5+ years of project management experience for technical infrastructure or engineering environments.
• Experience leading cross-functional projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Experience using PM tools to manage execution and reporting (Jira, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint).
• Experience developing plans, timelines, and KPIs for project performance.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute multi-year strategies for global lab infrastructure, including new lab construction and colocations.
• Lead complex lab infrastructure projects from planning through deployment, managing schedules, risks, budgets, and stakeholder communications.
• Oversee capacity planning and resource allocation across space, power, cooling, and compute resources.
• Collaborate with engineering, facilities, IT, and vendors to align priorities while ensuring safety and compliance.
• Drive process improvements via automation and AI-powered tools to enhance efficiency and collaboration.

Skills

Project management

Cross-functional leadership

Stakeholder management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Jira

Excel

PowerPoint

SharePoint

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 09/16/2026

Meet the Team

Cisco's Global Lab Planning and Strategy (GLS) Team is responsible for enabling engineering innovation by delivering scalable, efficient, and reliable global lab environments. The team partners closely with engineering, facilities, IT, and external vendors to ensure lab infrastructure supports Cisco's product development roadmap and long-term business objectives.

Your Impact

As a Project Manager on the Lab Planning and Strategy team, you will lead the planning, execution, and optimization of Cisco's global engineering lab environments. You will drive complex cross-functional initiatives that align engineering requirements with physical infrastructure, helping ensure our labs remain agile, scalable, and ready to support the next generation of Cisco innovation.

Specific Responsibilities Include

• Develop and execute multi-year strategies for global engineering lab infrastructure, including new lab construction, colocation facilities, and strategic planning initiatives.
• Lead complex lab infrastructure projects from planning through deployment, managing project schedules, risks, budgets, and stakeholder communication.
• Oversee lab capacity planning and resource allocation, including space, power, cooling, and compute resources, while implementing processes to optimize asset utilization.
• Partner with engineering leadership, facilities, IT, and external vendors to align lab infrastructure with business and engineering priorities while ensuring compliance with Cisco safety, security, and environmental standards.
• Drive process improvements through automation, standardization, and AI-powered tools to improve operational efficiency, scalability, and collaboration across global lab environments.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business Administration, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of project management experience supporting technical infrastructure, engineering lab environments, data centers, or similar operational environments.
• Experience leading cross-functional projects involving multiple stakeholders across engineering, facilities, IT, and/or external vendors.
• Experience using project management and collaboration tools such as Jira, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint to manage project execution and reporting.
• Experience developing strategic plans, managing project timelines, and tracking project performance using key performance indicators (KPIs).

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Experience managing capital (CapEx) and operational (OpEx) budgets for large-scale infrastructure or technical projects.
• Understanding of networking hardware, server architecture, and data center infrastructure requirements.
• Experience leveraging AI-powered tools to improve project management, reporting, or operational efficiency.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence across a global, matrixed organization.

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 $116,300.00 to $150,900.00 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

$116,300.00 - $173,500.00

Non-Metro New York State & Washington State

$101,900.00 - $154,400.00

• 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.