Director, Operations

Location: Anywhere in U.S.

About the team

The Cisco Cyber Security, Trust and Compliance team is at the heart of Cisco’s dedication to cyber security, privacy, and digital integrity across Cisco. Our team forms the backbone of Cisco efforts to deliver industry-leading market access and compliance and helping Cisco implement foundational cyber security based on industry standards. We are a diverse group of technical, business and policy experts dedicated to building a secure future for our customers, partners, and the global digital economy in the age of AI. By bridging the gap between complex and rapidly evolving regulatory landscapes, advancing adoption of cyber security foundational standards, and driving critical market access certifications, our team plays a meaningful role in driving growth and supporting revenue through market access. This team also plays a crucial role in leading technical and policy-level cyber security consultations with key global governments, standards organizations, and inspiring change within the industry to advance cyber security.

Responsibilities

• Lead organizational operational functions that span cloud, software, and on-premise compliance portfolios.
• Support strategic country engagement efforts to ensure seamless global regulatory alignment with compliance operations and the company’s overall cyber security objectives.
• Drive leadership for EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) compliance and manage customer trust implications of major industry evolutions like the use of frontier AI models in Project Glasswing.
• Integrate overall team operations with Cisco’s Product Organization to drive alignment and prioritization.
• Prioritize Sales and customer requirements to ensure compliance efforts directly support revenue growth and customer success.
• Manage complex budgeting, forecasting, and multi-vendor relationships to optimize operational efficiency.
• Accelerate the transition to AI-enabled compliance, leveraging automation to improve speed and accuracy.

Requirements

• 10+ years of substantive work experience related to technology, cybersecurity, or complex operational environments.
• Demonstrated deep expertise in the cybersecurity domain.
• Proven experience in technical or engineering roles within complex product architectures.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex operations reviews across cross-functional teams, including both product and sales organizations.
• Proven track record of managing complex budgeting, financial forecasting, and multi-vendor relationships.
• Ability to engage senior executives (VP and above) as key stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field (B.S.) is helpful, though not required.
• Technical certifications are desirable, though not required, including CISSP, CCSP, CCNP, etc.
• Outstanding collaboration and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in a highly dynamic, fast-paced environment and drive organizational focus.
• Proven experience establishing, tracking, and reporting on clear goals and success metrics.
• Strong bias toward data-driven decision-making, process automation, and the implementation of AI solutions.

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.

Pay

The starting salary range for this position is $190,900.00 to $241,400.00 for new hires 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.

Full salary ranges for specific locations:

• New York City Metro Area: $230,000.00 - $334,500.00
• Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $203,200.00 - $296,300.00

For quota-based sales roles, the ranges include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave, short- and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance.
• Restricted stock units (RSUs) that vest following continued employment.
• Paid time off:
  • 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.
  • Non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period.
  • Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program with no defined limit (subject to business limitations).
  • 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, with up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward.
  • Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues.
  • Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.
• Annual bonuses for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco’s policies.
• For sales roles, performance-based incentive pay split between quota and non-quota components:
  • Quota-based incentive pay:
    • 0.75% 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%.
    • Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap.
  • Non-quota-based sales performance elements: 0% up to 125% of target.

Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.