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Director, Strategy & Planning

Cisco

Administration

San Jose, CA, USA

Posted on Aug 30, 2025

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The application window is expected to close on: September 19th, 2025.

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

We change the World! You will become passionate about your employer and the brand you represent. Everything is converging on the Internet, making networked connections more meaningful than ever before in our lives. Our employees' groundbreaking ideas impact everything. Here, that means we take creative ideas from the drawing board to dynamic solutions that have real world impact. You'll collaborate with Cisco leaders, partner with mentors, and develop incredible relationships with colleagues who share your interest in connecting the unconnected. You'll be part a team that cares about its customers, enjoys having fun, and you'll take part in changing the lives of those in our local communities. Come prepared to be encouraged and inspired.

Your Impact

The Director, Strategy & Planning, is a senior leader responsible for shaping and driving the execution of strategic initiatives across the Operations organization. This role blends deep critical thinking and research with hands-on operational leadership, ensuring that recommendations are translated into measurable results. The Director will serve as a key advisor to the Operations and executive leadership, including the Office of the CEO (OCEO), connecting the dots across functions, leading high-impact projects, and fostering a culture of operational excellence!

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership: Partner with senior executives to identify, assess, and prioritize key operational opportunities and challenges.
Insight Development: Lead research and analysis on complex, content-rich topics, synthesize findings, and develop data-driven recommendations for executive decision-making.
Operational Execution: Oversee the implementation of strategic initiatives, manage cross-functional teams, and ensure successful delivery of business outcomes.
Performance Management: Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), analyze results, and adapt execution strategies as needed to achieve organizational goals.
Executive Communication: Develop and deliver compelling presentations, reports, and updates to the OCEO and senior leadership, translating complex analysis into clear, actionable insights.
Cross-Functional Integration: Foster alignment across Operations and partner functions, ensuring initiatives are cohesive and support broader organizational objectives.
Process Optimization: Identify and lead opportunities for process redesign, automation, and continuous improvement to drive efficiency and scalability.
Change Enablement: Champion change management efforts, ensuring smooth adoption and sustainability of new processes, systems, and cultural norms.
Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team; foster a collaborative, results-oriented culture.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree
3+ years of consulting experience

Preferred Qualifications

MBA or advanced degree strongly preferred
Bay Area location strongly preferred
10+ years of progressive experience in management consulting, strategy, or operations roles, including significant leadership responsibility.
This position is ideal for a leader who thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution.
Experience in both consulting and in-house operations leadership is highly valued.
Ability to lead through ambiguity and drive clarity in complex environments is essential.
Superior analytical, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills.
Outstanding communication and executive presentation abilities.
Expertise in project and change management, process improvement, and performance measurement.
Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional initiatives from strategy through execution with measurable business impact.
Proven track record of building relationships and influencing at the executive level.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple priorities.

Cisco is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis.
Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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. Simply put – we power the future.

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:

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.