Project Manager, AI in P&C

Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 149,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Comprehensive benefits (medical, 401k)

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Project Manager for AI in P&C in San Jose, CA. You will own end-to-end delivery of prioritised AI initiatives, collaborating with product, engineering, and operations to turn strategy into executable plans.

Expect to drive governance, milestones, and cross-functional execution across IT, data, and legal teams. You will translate strategy for senior leaders, manage stakeholder expectations, and measure outcomes beyond mere delivery dates.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of project or program management experience delivering complex cross-functional work.
• Track record of leading multiple concurrent projects with senior stakeholders, including executive audiences.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience, PMP/PfMP certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own delivery of top prioritized AI projects embedded in P&C workflows from intake through launch and adoption.
• Translate strategy from senior P&C and 3P leaders into clear plans, milestones, and decision points.
• Build governance structures, working teams, cadence, and decision frameworks sized to the work.

Skills

AI project management

Cross-functional leadership

Executive stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience

PMP or PfMP certification

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 09/26/2026

Location: San Jose, CA, most preferred

Project Manager, AI in P&C

People & Communities | Cisco

P&C is bringing AI into how we hire, develop, support, and connect with our people. This role drives the projects that make that real - turning leadership intent into delivered work that changes how P&C and 3P teams operate every day. You'll partner with senior leaders across P&C and 3P, work shoulder-to-shoulder with product, engineering, and operations partners, and own the end-to-end execution of 3P prioritized projects supporting our AI initiatives.

If you thrive in complexity, bring order to ambiguity, and like turning strategy into execution, this is a chance to do visible, high-impact work at the center of how Cisco is changing the way we work.

What You'll Do

• Own delivery of top prioritized AI projects embedded in P&C workflows and services, from intake through launch and adoption.
• Translate strategy from senior P&C and 3P leaders into clear plans, milestones, and decision points the broader team can run with.
• Build the structure these programs need: governance, working teams, status cadences, and decision frameworks - right-sized to the work.
• Run cross-functional teams across IT, design, data, legal, privacy, and operations. Hold partners accountable and unblock issues fast.
• Surface tradeoffs early. Frame options for senior leaders so decisions get made on time and don't stall the work.
• Communicate clearly and often. Tailor updates for executive audiences, working teams, and stakeholders who only need the headline.
• Track outcomes, not just delivery dates. Define what success looks like up front and measure whether projects actually moved the needle for P&C.
• Spot risks across the portfolio - dependencies, capacity, scope creep, change management - and resolve them before they slow delivery.
• Bring rigor to AI-specific considerations: data readiness, responsible AI review, change management for the people whose work will change.
• Outcome-oriented. You care more about whether the project changed something than whether the Gantt chart looked clean.

Who You Are

• A builder, not a maintainer. You like shaping how something should work as much as running it.
• Comfortable with ambiguity. You can take a fuzzy problem from a senior leader and turn it into a plan a team can execute against.
• Calm under pressure. You don't flinch when scope shifts, priorities change, or the room gets senior.
• A direct, concise communicator. You write tight status updates, run focused meetings, and don't pad your work with noise.
• Genuinely collaborative. You build trust with leaders, peers, and working teams - and people want to work with you again.
• Curious about AI. You don't need to be an ML engineer, but you're paying attention to what these tools can and can't do, and you're thoughtful about how they show up in people's work.
• Outcome-oriented. You care more about whether the project changed something than whether the Gantt chart looked clean.

Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years of project or program management experience, or comparable roles delivering complex cross-functional work.
• Track record of leading multiple concurrent projects with senior stakeholders, including executive-level audiences.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with how AI or technology programs get delivered in an enterprise environment - working with product, engineering, and data partners.
• Experience operating in ambiguous environments where the path, scope, and stakeholders are still being defined.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including the ability to brief senior leaders and align large groups.
• Demonstrated ability to drive decisions across functions where you don't have direct authority.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) or Portfolio Management Professional (PMP) certification.

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 $148,500.00 to $193,300.00 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.

• 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.

New York City Metro Area:

$148,500.00 - $234,600.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$135,400.00 - $215,200.00

* 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.