Director Strategic Alliances

The application window is expected to close on: 10/22/2026

Location: San Jose (Hybrid)

Travel: minimal travel to be expected

Meet the Team

The Strategic Alliances team is part of Cisco’s Corporate Strategy organization, and defines the company’s global strategy for our most critical partnerships.

You will operate as a key strategic bridge to our Alliance Partners, to understand their priorities and capabilities and align them with Cisco’s alliance strategy.

You will work with teams across Cisco including product leaders, sales leaders, CTOs, systems architects and marketing professionals to ensure that our global go-to-market and technical integration efforts are synchronized to drive mutual growth.

Your Impact

• Global Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the multi-year global alliance strategy for our most significant cloud partners. Serve as the primary architect for joint initiatives that span multiple geographies and business units.
• Cross-Company Influence: Drive complex initiatives by influencing senior leaders across Cisco’s product, engineering, and sales teams. You will be the catalyst for alignment, ensuring that internal stakeholders prioritize the partnership’s objectives.
• Complex Initiative Management: Incubate and manage high-stakes, cross-functional programs that require deep collaboration to ensure successful product integration and market adoption.
• Executive Presence: Act as a primary point of contact for executives at both Cisco and our partner. Navigate the "coopetition" landscape to secure long-term commitments and strategic alignment.
• Strategic Insight: Provide actionable intelligence to Cisco’s leadership team regarding the partner’s strategic direction, competitive positioning, and emerging technology trends, directly shaping Cisco’s executive-level decision-making.

Minimum Qualifications

• BA/BS degree with 10+ years of experience in business development, product management, or high-level partner management, specifically within the global cloud or networking ecosystem.
• Proven track record of managing large-scale, complex technology partnerships with significant strategic impact.
• Deep technical fluency in cloud-native architectures, including hybrid/multi-cloud, containerization, SaaS, and the security requirements of large-scale cloud environments.
• Expert-level communication and influence skills, with a demonstrated ability to align diverse, global stakeholders and senior executives toward a unified vision without direct line authority.
• Strong grasp of the strategic and competitive dynamics of the cloud industry, with the ability to translate technical concepts into high-level business strategy.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Management Consulting
• Extensive experience working with U.S.-headquartered hyperscale cloud providers.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate the organizational complexities of a large-scale multinational technology conglomerate.
• Advanced proficiency in data-driven decision-making and the ability to articulate innovative thought leadership to both technical and business audiences.

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 $243,300.00 to $312,000.00 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.

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%; 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:

$243,300.00 - $364,400.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$217,700.00 - $327,000.00

* 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.