Supply Planning Manager
About the job
- At least 5 years of experience with Materials Management, Supplier Relationship Management, and/or Supply/Demand Planning.
- Experience and knowledge of manufacturing processes and procedures.
- Experience with data analysis, data analytics, and data modeling.
- Design and execute end-to-end global supply plans for related commodities, including integrated co-planning initiatives with key suppliers.
- Partner with global hub operations to optimize inbound fulfillment modes.
- Own the inventory decision-making process, ensuring actions align with Cisco’s Weeks of Supply (WOS) strategy and financial goals.
- Proactively identify and resolve component shortages through agile communication and rapid problem-solving with regional partners and global suppliers.
- Use analytical and collaborative techniques to manage and mitigate Excess & Obsolescence (E&O) risks while maximizing total revenue potential.
- Build partnerships with Global Supplier Management (SuCM) and external vendors to align commodity-specific strategies with Cisco’s business requirements.
- Lead the commodity supply response to industry transitions.
- Coordinate with Engineering, Hubs, and Suppliers to manage qualifications and support successful New Product Introduction (NPI) ramp-ups.
- Drive alignment across partner teams, including Finance and Business Units, to support component planning and supply chain resilience.
- Experience with inventory management.
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
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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.
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Benefits
Paid Vacation
Hybrid Work Options
Flexible Work Hours
Professional Development Budget
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
0%1 year growth
0%2 year growth
0%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.
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.
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.
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.
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".