C

Cisco

Makes networking gear and security software

Account Executive - Splunk, Global Financial Services Accounts

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/15/2026
No salary listed
Expert
Bachelor's, Master's
Zürich, Switzerland
In PersonTravel within Switzerland and internationally is required.
Sales & Account ManagementAccount Management

About the job

Requirements
  • At least 10 years of enterprise software sales experience with consistent quota overachievement, most of it in financial services.
  • A verifiable record of closing multi-million-dollar enterprise software transactions with global banks or insurers headquartered in Switzerland.
  • An established, current executive-level network within Swiss-headquartered global financial institutions and the ability to engage relevant decision-makers immediately.
  • Deep understanding of global financial institution purchasing, including group procurement, vendor risk management, outsourcing governance, global-versus-divisional decision rights, and budget cycles.
  • Strong command of the financial-services technology regulatory landscape, including FINMA outsourcing and operational-resilience requirements, DORA, banking secrecy, and data-residency obligations.
  • Ability to orchestrate an extended virtual account team of System Engineers, Customer Success Managers, specialists, and partners toward shared outcomes without direct authority.
  • Experience running account engagements as structured programs using close plans, mutual action plans, and project-based execution on complex accounts.
  • A track record of protecting an installed base through renewals and retention and driving expansion under vendor-consolidation pressure.
  • Ability to position AI-led value credibly in customer environments and use internal AI systems and tooling to accelerate research, strategy formulation, and execution.
  • Mastery of MEDDPICC or an equivalent qualification methodology.
  • Executive presence and ability to influence and close multi-million-dollar enterprise software deals at CxO level.
  • Accurate forecasting and commitment delivery across large portfolios and extended sales cycles.
  • Communication, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.
  • Deep understanding of enterprise IT ecosystems, including cloud infrastructure, security, observability, and digital-transformation initiatives.
  • Experience in SaaS, security, or observability environments.
  • Power-user proficiency with enterprise CRM platforms such as Salesforce, including operational discipline and reporting fluency.
  • Minimum of a Bachelor's degree.
  • Fluency in written and spoken German and English.
  • Willingness to travel within Switzerland and internationally.
Responsibilities
  • Leverage and deepen executive relationships across global banking and insurance organizations, including CISO, CTO, COO, Group Technology, architecture, and group procurement or category management, at Swiss headquarters and global divisional levels.
  • Secure and renew a large installed base, identify and capitalize on portfolio expansion opportunities, and drive retention and growth amid vendor consolidation and cost scrutiny.
  • Navigate the matrixed buying environment of global financial institutions, where commercial authority and budgets span group functions, divisions, and regions; coordinate the extended account team across geographies, including out-of-country and local account roles working with the same customer.
  • Structure complex, multi-stakeholder situations toward defined outcomes by orchestrating System Engineers, Customer Success Managers, specialists, and partners, and lead the virtual account team toward successful execution.
  • Run account engagements as structured programs with clear close plans, mutual action plans, milestones, and disciplined project-based execution.
  • Position Splunk's AI-powered security and observability capabilities credibly in financial institutions, including consideration of AI governance, model risk, and resilience; use internal AI tooling to accelerate account research, strategy development, and execution.
  • Lead large-scale contract negotiations, enterprise agreements, and executive presentations with C-level stakeholders and group procurement, securing mutually beneficial agreements aligned with customer and company goals.
  • Collaborate with internal engineering, product, marketing, and legal teams, partners, and the Cisco field to develop solutions for globally regulated financial institutions.
  • Monitor industry trends, competitor activity, and technology shifts in banking and insurance; incorporate FINMA operational-resilience, outsourcing, and cyber-risk requirements, DORA obligations affecting EU operations, banking secrecy, and Swiss/EU data-residency and privacy obligations into security and observability positioning.
  • Maintain accurate pipeline, forecast, and account plans across a concentrated, high-value portfolio, and provide clear insight and recommendations for improvement.
  • Work with engineering, customer success, and support to ensure successful delivery and customer satisfaction across multi-workstream engagements.
Desired Qualifications
  • An advanced degree is a plus.
  • Additional languages are a plus.

About the company

Cisco makes the switches and routers that connect offices, data centers, and cloud services, and it also sells cybersecurity tools and Webex video meetings to businesses and governments. It was one of the first companies to sell routers that let different kinds of computer networks exchange data, and in 2000 it briefly became the world's most valuable company. Customers run its network gear, from Wi-Fi access points to AI data center systems, with Cisco software that sets up and secures the network, while its Splunk unit searches computer logs to catch outages and attacks. Cisco earns money from hardware sales, software subscriptions, and support contracts. It was founded in 1984 and is based in San Jose, California.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

San Jose, California

Founded

1984

Get referred to Cisco

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Cloud giants fuel growth: they ordered $9.3 billion of Cisco's AI gear in the year to July 2026, up 4.5-fold.
  • Stock awards gained value: Cisco shares rose 63% in the year to October 2026, four times the S&P 500's 15%.
  • Signed deals steady the business: Cisco had $46.7 billion of contracted sales still to deliver in July 2026, up 7%.

What critics are saying

  • Record sales didn't stop layoffs: Cisco cut nearly 4,000 jobs, just under 5% of staff, in May 2026.
  • Rivals lead in data center switches: in the June 2026 quarter, Nvidia held 20.4%, Arista 18.7% and Cisco 18.2%.
  • Hardware-heavy AI growth squeezes profit: Cisco's gross margin fell to 66.3% from 68.4% in the July 2026 quarter.

What makes Cisco unique

  • Cisco still sells the most network switches: it took 28.7% of worldwide switch sales in the June 2026 quarter.
  • Cisco designs its own networking chips: Microsoft and Alibaba signed on early for its Silicon One P200, launched October 2025.
  • Cisco trains future network engineers: its Networking Academy has taught over 28 million learners in 195 countries since 1997.

Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?

Benefits

Paid Vacation

Hybrid Work Options

Flexible Work Hours

Professional Development Budget

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
Yahoo Finance
Oct 14th, 2026
Cisco, General Mills and Coca-Cola: three value stocks for a market at 237% of GDP

With the Buffett indicator near 237%, a Simply Wall St screen points to three large companies it considers high-quality value stocks: Cisco Systems, General Mills, and Coca-Cola. Cisco generates about $63.3 billion from networking products and has a market value of roughly $454.7 billion. Its AI infrastructure orders outlook for fiscal 2026 has risen to about $9 billion, driven by demand from cloud providers. General Mills has a market value near $17.5 billion, with $10.4 billion of sales from North America Retail. It plans $750 million of cost savings in fiscal 2027 as part of a $3 billion programme through fiscal 2030. Coca-Cola generates about $50.1 billion from nonalcoholic drinks and is valued near $386.3 billion. Its zero-sugar variants grew by double digits. The screen found 28 more companies with similar traits.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 12th, 2026
Cisco shares fall 3.3% to $114.52 as Webex AI agents keep working after calls end

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) has added AI agents to Webex that keep working on tasks after a conversation ends. Its shares traded at $114.52 on October 12, down about 3.3%. The agents use a tool called Dialog, which links customer history, company data, and backend systems so they can pursue unresolved requests. Claude integration is planned. Splunk tracks agent activity, and Cisco AI Defense provides safeguards. Shares sit 52.15% above the $75.27 GF Value estimate from GuruFocus. Cisco must turn the agents into higher recurring revenue without letting implementation costs and human supervision erode the gains.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 12th, 2026
NVIDIA and Cisco unveil USFP optics with 400Gb/s lanes and 4x bandwidth density

NVIDIA and Cisco announced Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable (USFP), a new optical module for AI data centres, on October 12, 2026. They say it will be the first to support 400Gb/s-per-lane electrical signals, for capacity up to 12.8Tb/s. USFP offers 4x the bandwidth density and about 1.3x the power efficiency of 200Gb/s-per-lane modules. Operators can connect more computing systems without adding network tiers, while cutting networking's share of power use. The first transceivers will pack 16 full-duplex lanes in an octal small form factor-sized footprint, with 32 lanes or more planned. The companies are working with TE Connectivity and Amphenol on cages, connectors and modules. They plan an open industry specification through a community-led multi-source project.

PR Newswire
Oct 12th, 2026
Cisco and NVIDIA plan open 400G optics spec as Microsoft, Alibaba deploy P200 silicon

Cisco unveiled new chips, systems and optics for AI networks at the Open Compute Project Global Summit on October 12, 2026. With NVIDIA, it plans to create an open specification for Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable (USFP), a 400Gb/s-per-lane optical module. Cisco says USFP should deliver 4x the bandwidth density and 1.3x the power efficiency of 200Gb/s-per-lane optics. Microsoft and Alibaba have put systems powered by Cisco's 51.2T Silicon One P200 into production. The first systems using the 102.4T G300 chip are shipping to customers. Cisco also introduced the 51.2T G302 chip for top-of-rack switches, which it plans to ship before the end of 2026. Its Live Protect security feature for SONiC customers starts in mid-2027.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 10th, 2026
Oracle edges Cisco in dividend battle despite 30% YTD decline

Oracle and Cisco are both positioned to benefit from growing AI infrastructure demand, though through different approaches. Oracle focuses on cloud computing power through its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, while Cisco concentrates on networking and security, including its Secure AI Factory partnership with Nvidia. Oracle reported annual sales of $67.36 billion and net income of $17.09 billion, outpacing Cisco's $63.33 billion in sales and $13.27 billion in profit. Oracle trades at 22 times forward earnings versus Cisco's 27 times. Both companies offer a 1.4% dividend yield. However, Oracle's payout ratio stands at 29%, compared with Cisco's 45%, providing more reinvestment flexibility. Cisco has delivered stronger stock performance with 112% returns over five years, more than double Oracle's 51%. Analysts rate Oracle a "Strong Buy" and Cisco a "Moderate Buy".