Strategy & Planning Manager, Sales Incentives

Cisco; Boston (MA); Remote; USD 114,000 - 157,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid holidays

Birthday off

Wellness days

Vacation time

Sick leave

Volunteer days

Flexible vacation

Job summary

Cisco is seeking a Strategy & Planning Manager - Sales Incentives to translate visions into strategic goals and drive enterprise AI-enabled planning. You will lead cross-functional analyses, build forecast models, and guide multi-year planning with data-driven insights.

This remote role targets US candidates and emphasizes AI-enabled strategy development. Expect to collaborate with executives, shape investment choices, and optimize resource allocation using advanced tools.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience using data and business insights to support planning, forecasting, scenario analysis, or strategic decision-making.
• Ability to manage workstreams independently, prioritize deliverables, and drive defined objectives and timelines.
• Strong collaboration across teams and stakeholders to gather inputs, resolve dependencies, and deliver outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Drive AI-augmented planning and scenario modeling to inform strategic priorities.
• Support S&P activities across global regions and key products or markets.
• Identify misalignments and surface opportunities through AI-powered analysis.
• Coordinate timing and resources using AI-driven optimization models.
• Develop materials and recommendations for senior leaders and cross-functional teams.
• Monitor trends and use AI-driven anomaly detection to flag gaps to objectives.

Skills

Data-driven planning

Forecasting

Strategic decision-making

Cross-functional collaboration

Independent work management

Tools

BI tools

AI prompt engineering

Job description

Strategy & Planning Manager - Sales Incentives

Location: RTP, North Carolina, US, Austin, Texas, US, Houston, Texas, US, Boston, Massachusetts, US

Remote Type: Remote

Time Type: Full time

Job Description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/20/2026

This remote role is open to candidates in the United States, no relocation is available.

Your Impact

Translates visions into strategic goals, market positions, and transformation priorities. Forms insights and observations from internal and external data sources, including advanced analytics and AI‑driven signals, to inform forward-looking strategies and planning decisions.

Leads market and competitive analysis to inform future direction, augmenting traditional research with AI‑enabled tools. Shapes enterprise-wide initiatives (e.g., digital transformation, recurring revenue models)while driving a holistic "OneCisco" AI strategy to identify and implement high-impact AI opportunities across the organization.

Advises executives on business/functional strategy, investment strategy, and resource optimization, supported by data‑driven and AI‑enhanced insights. Acts as internal consultants to align cross-functional strategic agendas, applying rigorous prioritization discipline to identify low-value initiatives for outsourcing or termination.

Develops business plans that connect long-term vision to short-term goals,establishing clear success criteria for every recommendation to ensure meThe asurable outcomes.

Sets targets, builds forecasts, and conducts scenario modeling,leveraging AI and advanced planning tools to evaluate trade-offs, outcomes, and long-term feasibility. Facilitates annual and multi‑year planning processes,embedding rigorous feedback loops to evaluate whether initiatives are moving the needle and adjusting course accordingly. Aligns resources and capabilities with strategic priorities. Supports data-driven decisions through planning analytics,modeling AI proficiency by embedding advanced tools and prompt engineering into daily workflows to increase analytical depth.

What You'll Do:

• Drives incremental advancements by supporting focused S&P priorities through AI-augmented modeling
• Typically, provides: Support to a part(s) of global S&P areas (e.g., scenario modeling for changes to key products, competitive analysis for potential new market entry), or; Broad enabling S&P support for a region
• Surfaces friction or divergence in developing strategic priorities or plansby leveraging AI-powered conflict-identification analysis
• Sequences activities and aligns timing with resourcingusing AI-driven optimization models
• Identifies strategic opportunities and/or misalignments
• Integrates multiple analyses to shape strategic storylinessupported by AI-powered synthesis models
• Monitors trends across metrics and flags gaps to intended objectivesusing AI-driven anomaly detection
• Advises on course corrections by connecting issues to risks and identifying resource needsbased on AI-modeled impact assessments
• Drives enhancements to S&P processes that reduce friction and increase business relevanceby integrating AI-driven process optimization
• Connects external shifts to customer priorities to uncover future opportunities
• Leverages competitive and portfolio knowledge to guide work of self and others
• Coordinates across teams to integrate broader perspectives
• Ensures deliverables reflect cross-functional interdependenciesby leveraging AI-driven dependency mapping
• Articulates own team’s position and reinforces clarity around deliverables
• Uses setbacks and new information to strengthen own capabilities

Minimum Qualification s

• 5+ years experience using data and business insights to support planning, forecasting, scenario analysis, or strategic decision-making.
• Prior experience and ability to manage workstreams independently, prioritize deliverables, and execute against defined business objectives and timelines.
• Comfortable collaborating across multiple teams and functional stakeholders to gather inputs, resolve dependencies, and deliver business outcomes.

Preferred Qualification s

• Strong analytical capabilities, including experience with scenario modeling, trend analysis, KPI development, and performance measurement.
• Experience identifying performance gaps, business risks, process inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement and recommending appropriate actions.
• Experience developing materials and recommendations for senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Proficiency with business intelligence, analytics, and planning tools, with experience using generative AI and prompt engineering to improve analytical or operational workflows.

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 $114,100.00 to $157,000.00 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.

• 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 timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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:

$143,800.00 - $217,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$132,600.00 - $192,700.00

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.