Customer Success Specialist

Meet the Team

The Customer Success Specialist (CSS) role is a critical, strategic advisor and technical expert that engages with customers to accelerate their adoption of Cisco products & solutions that transform their business and drive business outcomes. The role resides within the Cisco Customer Experience (CX) organization.

Your Impact

CSSs are subject matter experts in their aligned product or architecture. They deliver targeted engagements to increase product awareness, share standard processes, and drive product consumption and business value. CSSs bring strategic vision, the latest technology from Cisco Engineering, and tactical expertise to ensure successful customer engagements. They also participate in the global CSS Community to share standard processes and success stories. Combining deep technical knowledge with eye for business, CSSs provide consultative solutions to help customers realize value faster. Mastery of relationship management, account handling, and soft skills, along with a keen understanding of the competitive landscape and how Cisco's solutions are differentiated in the market, will be key to driving adoption and ensuring customers achieve accelerated business outcomes.

This highly technical role supports customers with adoption challenges across the security architecture, specifically with the following Solution Domains:

• Integrated Security Operations
• Cloud & Network Security
• Zero Trust Network Access

Experience with integrating Cisco’s security products is essential.

• Customer Engagement: Conduct targeted consultative sessions and interactive technical presentations to increase product awareness, share standard processes, and drive software adoption and business value.
• Technical Expertise: Apply deep technical knowledge, business acumen, and automation skills to provide consultative solutions and ensure successful customer engagements.
• Risk Management: Identify and mitigate renewal risks, including those associated with low technical adoption, to ensure successful product integration and consistently meet customer expectations.
• Collaboration: Work closely with Account teams, Customer Success, and Partners to enhance customer adoption, address product concerns, and drive growth.
• Product Feedback and Advocacy: Provide feedback to Engineering and Product Management Teams for product improvements, promote the CX offer strategy, and highlight feature opportunities.
• Strategic Advice and Adoption Journey: Guide customers on deployment decisions and long-term business outcomes, develop onboarding and adoption journeys, lead architectural initiatives, and address product challenges.

Minimum Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in technical consulting or direct customer interfacing/engagement role with a deep understanding of industry standard processes related to the security domain
• Expert-level technical knowledge a must for:
• Zero Trust Network Access
• Secure Firewall and Cloud Security
• SecOps
• Minimum two of the following Cisco Security Suites:
• Breach Protection Suite or
• User Protection Suite
• Cloud Protection Suite
• Fluently bilingual (Speaking and Writing) in Portuguese or Spanish and English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Expert-level knowledge of integrating across multiple architectures.
• Demonstrated success with complex technologies and conducting high-risk architecture reviews.
• Provided strategic advice on deployment decisions, led architectural initiatives, incorporating standard processes and validated designs from across Cisco to ensure successful implementation and adoption with customers.
• Demonstrated ability to apply deep understanding of relevant Cisco products to define how technology solves Customers’ business challenges. This includes baselining customer environments, capturing heatmaps of products and tools (including third-party), and developing comprehensive on-boarding and adoption journeys.
• Expert understanding and experience with public cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP, as well as knowledge of virtualization technologies.
• Expertise in automation, including demonstrating APIs and programmability to orchestrate workflows and integrate with existing ecosystems (e.g., ITSM, Open Source).
• Suggested Certifications: DevNet, CCNA, CCNP, or CCDP required;
• Suggested Cisco Success Management certifications: Cisco Certified Success Specialist.
• BS in Engineering, Computer Science; Masters or equivalent experience preferred.

#WeAreCisco

#WeAreCisco where every individual brings their unique skills and perspectives together to pursue our purpose of powering an inclusive future for all.

Our passion is connection—we celebrate our employees’ diverse set of backgrounds and focus on unlocking potential. Cisconians often experience one company, many careers where learning and development are encouraged and supported at every stage. Our technology, tools, and culture pioneered hybrid work trends, allowing all to not only give their best, but be their best.

We understand our outstanding opportunity to bring communities together and at the heart of that is our people. One-third of Cisconians collaborate in our 30 employee resource organizations, called Inclusive Communities, to connect, foster belonging, learn to be informed allies, and make a difference. Dedicated paid time off to volunteer—80 hours each year—allows us to give back to causes we are passionate about, and nearly 86% do!

Our purpose, driven by our people, is what makes us the worldwide leader in technology that powers the internet. Helping our customers reimagine their applications, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals is what we do best. We ensure that every step we take is a step towards a more inclusive future for all. Take your next step and be you, with us!

When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees have access to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.

Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days of vacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco’s flexible Vacation Time Off policy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco’s Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter. Up to 80 hours of unused sick time will be carried forward from one calendar year to the next such that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is 160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. 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 up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.