Director Associate General Counsel Offer Strategy Product Operations jobs at Cisco in United States, Cary

In this dual-capacity role, you will not only define and drive the product vision but also manage programs and execution at scale — coordinating across multiple teams, vendors, and stakeholders to ensure successful enterprise adoption. This position requires a balance of technical expertise, leadership, product ownership, and program management skills.

Product Ownership

· Own and communicate the product vision and roadmap for AI Assistant tools, ensuring alignment with organizational and business goals.

· Define and prioritize the product backlog to maximize developer productivity and business outcomes.

· Collaborate with engineering teams to translate product features into technical requirements and ensure feasibility.

· Drive integrations of AI assistants with enterprise development environments, CI/CD pipelines, and security frameworks.

· Continuously assess tool performance, adoption, and ROI; iterate on features and workflows.

· Responsible for Leadership readouts across the enterprise.

Program Management

· Manage program-level execution across multiple teams, ensuring timely delivery of features and adoption milestones.

· Coordinate across engineering, operations, business units, and executive stakeholders to align priorities and dependencies.

· Partner with vendors (e.g., OpenAI, GitHub, Cursor, Windsurf) to manage licensing, contracts, escalations, and roadmap alignment.

· Track KPIs and success metrics; provide regular status reports and executive-level updates on adoption, usage, and outcomes.

· Identify risks, dependencies, and organizational blockers; implement mitigation strategies.

· Drive change management and communication plans to ensure smooth adoption across global teams.

· Ensure compliance with security, privacy, and governance requirements during AI adoption.

Required Skills & Qualifications

· Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

· 7–10 years of experience in technical product or program management, with at least 3 years as a product owner in a technical environment.

· Strong understanding of Agile/Scrum methodologies and experience in backlog management.

· Proven track record in program management — managing cross-functional initiatives, vendors, and large-scale rollouts.

· Experience with AI/ML-based developer productivity tools (e.g., Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf) or similar intelligent assistants.

· Familiarity with software development lifecycles (SDLC), CI/CD pipelines, APIs, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).

· Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.

· Strong organizational skills with experience managing multiple priorities and projects in a fast-paced environment.

Desired Skills & Qualifications

· Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), SAFe Product Owner/Manager (POPM), PMP, or equivalent certifications.

· Experience with developer workflow tools (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, VS Code, JetBrains IDEs).

· Familiarity with LLMs, prompt engineering, and AI-assisted development paradigms.

· Knowledge of compliance, governance, and privacy requirements for enterprise AI adoption.

· Experience leading distributed, global teams and managing large-scale vendor engagements.

Key Competencies

· Strategic Thinking – Ability to evaluate long-term enterprise adoption strategies while balancing near-term delivery.

· Leadership & Influence – Inspire, align, and guide cross-functional teams and stakeholders toward shared outcomes.

· Execution Excellence – Skilled at delivering large-scale initiatives on time, within scope, and with measurable impact.

· Problem Solving – Adept at resolving technical, operational, and organizational challenges effectively.

· Customer-Centric Mindset – Passion for enabling developers to be more productive and innovative through AI tools.

• Innovate AI-Focused Sales Motions: Develop and execute creative routes to market to position Cisco’s optics transceivers (e.g., QSFP, SFP, coherent optics) as critical solutions for AI-driven applications, including machine learning clusters, GPU interconnects, and data center interconnects.
• Target new AI Market Segments: Identify and penetrate new customer segments for Optics globally, such as AI infrastructure providers, cloud hyperscalers, and research institutions, leveraging Cisco’s leadership in hardware ports to meet high-bandwidth demands.
• Drive Revenue Growth: Achieve ambitious sales targets by crafting compelling value propositions, optimizing pricing, and building strategic partnerships to accelerate optics adoption in AI ecosystems.
• Customer Engagement and industry leadership: Represent Cisco at AI and networking industry events. Build trusted relationships with key accounts, to pioneer GTM motions for Optics with selected customers.
• Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Partner with Cisco’s product engineering, and marketing teams across functional boundaries to align sales strategies with innovations in high-speed optics and AI infrastructure trends.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, or a related field.
• 7+ years of B2B business development or sales experience in networking, telecommunications, or hardware technology, with a focus on data center or AI infrastructure markets and a proven success record in developing innovative sales strategies that drive significant revenue growth in emerging technology sectors.
• Strong understanding of optics transceivers (e.g., 400G/800G, coherent optics) and their role in supporting AI workloads and high-speed networking.
• Proficiency with sales IT platforms (e.g., Salesforce) and sales analytics tools.
• Ability to travel globally as needed to engage with clients and attend industry events.

• Knowledge of AI infrastructure trends, including GPU clusters, low-latency interconnects, and high-bandwidth optical networking and experience in business development with hyperscale data centers, AI solution providers, or high-performance computing environments.
• Track record in building new sales motions and routes to market, potentially including digital marketplaces
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively, and to thrive in a global, fast-paced, ambiguous, target-driven environment at a market-leading technology company.
• Knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel and AI tools.

Content Development:

• Create and manage Cisco Routing portfolio technical enablement materials, including product documentation, playbooks, demos, technical FAQs, onboarding guides, and training modules.
• Design and develop technical training materials, such as e-learning modules, instructional videos, technical documentation, job aids, user guides, and assessments.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear, concise, and easily digestible learning content for both technical and non-technical learners.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Act as a liaison between product, engineering, marketing, and customer-facing teams to ensure alignment on technical enablement priorities.
• Work closely with Sales Enablement and Marketing to ensure consistent messaging and technical accuracy in sales and customer-facing materials.

Training Programs:

• Design and deliver technical training sessions, workshops, and certifications for internal and external stakeholders.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of training and enablement initiatives using feedback, metrics, and performance data, and iterate on programs for continuous improvement.

Technical Expertise:

• Stay up-to-date on product developments, industry trends, and competitive landscape to ensure enablement programs remain relevant and ground breaking.
• Provide technical guidance and support to teams during product launches or when addressing complex customer needs.

• 7+ years of experience in either product management or technical enablement or sales enablement, or a related technical role.
• Strong networking (routing or switching preferred) technical background, with the ability to understand complex product features and translate them into value propositions.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to simplify and articulate technical concepts for diverse audiences.
• Experience creating enablement materials (e.g., guides, presentations, e-learning content) and delivering training programs.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related field (or equivalent work experience).
• Familiarity with enterprise routing, SaaS, or cloud technologies.
• Experience with tools such as enablement platforms or content development tools.
• Certification in product management, technical training, or related fields.
• Solid understanding of Agile methodologies and product development cycles.