Director, Editorial Strategy

About the role

Meet the Team
We're building the future of Digital Communications. Cisco is transforming its Digital Communications organization into a world-class, AI-native owned media organization, combining the discipline of a newsroom, the innovation of a lab, the creativity of a studio, the intelligence of a performance analytics team, and the speed of AI. Our ambition isn't simply to keep pace with the communications industry; we're building the blueprint we believe others will benchmark against. At the heart of that transformation is Editorial Strategy. This newly created function serves as the front door for all owned storytelling. It sets the editorial agenda, leads story prioritization, establishes governance, and creates the systems that enable our organization to operate like a modern media company.

What You'll Build

• Build and lead Cisco's editorial strategy, translating business priorities into a proactive editorial agenda.
• Determine where we invest editorial resources, how stories fit together across channels, and how we consistently deliver content that earns attention, builds trust, and advances Cisco's reputation.
• Lead editorial strategy across Story Lab, the Cisco Newsroom, blogs, and future owned media experiences.
• Create a cohesive editorial roadmap that aligns business priorities with audience needs.

What You'll Do

• Own Cisco's Editorial Strategy
• Develop and own Cisco's editorial strategy, translating business priorities into a proactive editorial agenda.
• Define what stories Cisco tells, and just as importantly, what it doesn't.
• Lead the editorial direction for Story Lab, the Cisco Newsroom, blogs, and future owned media experiences.
• Establish a cohesive editorial roadmap that aligns business priorities with audience needs.
• Lead Editorial Planning & Prioritization
• Build and lead annual, quarterly, monthly, and sprint-based editorial planning.
• Evaluate and prioritize opportunities based on strategic value, audience relevance, editorial quality, and available capacity.
• Create transparency around priorities, tradeoffs, and resource allocation.
• Build Editorial Governance
• Design Cisco's editorial governance framework and operating model.
• Partner with Visual Storytelling to establish shared editorial and creative standards across every owned storytelling experience.
• Develop planning processes, quality standards, and decision-making frameworks that improve consistency while increasing speed.
• Ensure every story reflects Cisco's editorial standards, audience needs, and business priorities.
• Build an AI-Native Editorial Organization
• Reimagine editorial workflows using AI.
• Embed AI across planning, ideation, research, drafting, production, and measurement while maintaining strong editorial judgment.
• Identify opportunities to increase efficiency, unlock creativity, and improve editorial decision-making through AI.
• Build and Lead a High-Performing Team
• Lead and develop a growing editorial organization, including editorial planning & enablement, editorial operations & intake, Newsroom & Blogs.
• Create a culture grounded in editorial excellence, experimentation, accountability, curiosity, and continuous improvement.
• Partner Across Global Communications
• Partner closely with leaders across Content Studio, Visual Storytelling, Digital Channels, Executive Communications, Public Relations, Analyst Relations, Product Communications, Employee Communications.
• Ensure Cisco speaks with one integrated editorial voice across every owned channel.

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience leading editorial strategy, digital publishing, journalism, owned media, enterprise content, or related disciplines.
• Proven success building editorial planning processes, governance models, and operating frameworks.
• Exceptional editorial judgment and storytelling instincts.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives within complex, matrixed organizations.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence senior leaders and build alignment across functions.
• Experience hiring, coaching, and developing high-performing teams.
• Demonstrated success leading organizational transformation and operational change.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a modern newsroom, digital publisher, media company, or owned media organization.
• Experience building or scaling editorial or owned media functions.
• Experience implementing AI-enabled editorial workflows.
• Strong understanding of audience-first storytelling, digital publishing, SEO, newsletters, analytics, and emerging content platforms.
• Experience leading enterprise-wide content transformation initiatives.
• Passion for experimentation, innovation, and continuous improvement.