Sales Leader, Defense

Cisco Systems, Inc; United States; Remote; USD 330,000 - 543,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Regional Sales Director for Advanced Missions to lead a federal sales team focused on NatSec and defense sectors. This role requires coordinating with inside sales and technical resources to drive licenses, services and revenue growth.

You will own territory planning, develop executive relationships, and negotiate terms with major defense customers while leveraging CRM and analytics platforms. Travel up to 50% is expected.

Qualifications

• Minimum 1 year of enterprise technology sales leadership experience.
• At least 7 years of direct (software/SaaS) selling experience to Public Sector within the DoD and INTEL Community.
• An active TS/SCI/CI poly or FSP federal government clearance is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Advanced Missions sales team under NatSec/Aerospace & Defense, coordinating with technical resources and inside sales.
• Consistently deliver licenses, support and service revenue targets and meet deadlines.
• Manage territory mapping, account planning and opportunity management.

Skills

Sales leadership

Gov/DoD/SaaS sales

Travel up to 50%

Tools

Salesforce

Clari

Job description

Leader, Sales - Splunk - Defense - Advanced Mission

Location: Remote - Virginia, USA, Remote - Maryland, USA

Remote Type: Remote

Time Type: Full time

Job Description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/14/2026

This role can be performed in Maryland, Washington DC or Virginia

Your impact:

Federal Sales Leaders are at the forefront of Splunk and Cisco's business. They play a crucial role in driving growth and selling enterprise software solutions to PBST Sector Agencies and lead world-class, high-performing sales teams. We are seeking an outstanding professional to join our team as theRegional Sales Director for Advanced Missions. You have a measurable track record in building and leading hard-working sales organizations. In this role, you will:

Responsibilities:

• Under NatSec/Aerospace & Defense directly lead the Advanced Missions sales team and work closely with assigned technical resources and inside sales

• Consistently deliver licenses, support and service revenue targets – dedication to the number and to deadlines

• Territory mapping, account planning and opportunity management

• Negotiate favorable pricing and business terms with large commercial enterprises by selling value and return in investment

• Work with inside sales and partners for maximum efficiency

• Use sales engineering and in-house as well as partner services resources

• Player /lead hands on with the team; very involved with account planning, strategy and sales calls

• Hire the right team to match our growth

• Use our sales methodology and processes effectively

• Understand how to use both international and domestic colleagues to expand deal size and value to the customer

• Good corporate citizen – two way flow of relevant and timely information; work as a team for the most efficient use and deployment of resources

• Provide timely and informative input back to other corporate functions, particularly product management and marketing and our team

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum 1 year of enterprise technology sales leadership experience

• At least 7 years of direct (software/SaaS) selling experience to Public Sector within the DoD and INTEL Community

• Must have an active Federal government clearance of Top Secret/SCI with polygraph on file

• Willing to travel up to 50% to client site, conferences and networking events

• Must live within a commutable distance from Washington DC Metro area

Preferred Qualifications

• 4 or more years of experience selling directly to government INTEL community or NATSEC

• 2 or more years of direct sales leadership experience managing quota-carrying teams within an enterprise technology or software organization

• An active TS/SCI/CI poly or FSP federal government clearance

• Success adapting in fast-growing and changing environments

• Established executive relationships within the Advanced Missions/ DoD procurement commands and major defense systems integrators (GSIs).

• Direct domain and technical sales leadership experience in observability, SIEM, security operations (SecOps), or log analytics technologies.

• Hands-on experience using enterprise CRM and sales analytics platforms (such as Salesforce, Clari, or equivalent)

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 $329,800.00 to $445,500.00 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%

• 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:

$366,600.00 - $543,100.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$329,800.00 - $512,400.00

* 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.