Strategy & Planning Manager

About the Role

The Americas Sales Strategy, Planning & Operations (SP&O) team is seeking a highly analytical, organized Sales Strategy & Planning Analyst to support business planning, financial and commercial analysis, and Run the Business operating rhythm for Americas Sales. This hands-on role combines meticulous quantitative work with structured execution, executive reporting, and AI-enabled process improvement.

Responsibilities

• Annual & Quarterly Planning / Run the Business: Support annual fiscal year planning, quarterly planning, and next-quarter readiness by maintaining milestones, inputs, templates, dependencies, and deliverables. Coordinate operating rhythms including QBRs, forecast and performance reviews, leadership all-hands, offsites, and business planning meetings; prepare materials and track decisions and actions. Maintain rolling leadership calendars and action trackers; proactively identify missed inputs, schedule conflicts, risks, and follow-ups across collaborators.
• Financial Modeling, Business Analysis & Executive Decision Support: Build and maintain Excel-based financial and operating models to assess bookings, forecast scenarios, attainment, pipeline coverage, conversion, slippage, and performance against plan. Conduct variance, trend, and scenario analysis to explain performance drivers, identify risks and opportunities, and support annual and quarterly planning decisions. Consolidate Sales, Finance, and Strategy & Planning inputs into executive summaries, end-of-quarter factbooks, pre-earnings commentary, and clear, data-backed recommendations.
• Reporting, Excel & Pipeline Excellence: Develop sophisticated Excel models, trackers, templates, and recurring reports using pivot tables, complex formulas, lookups, sensitivity analysis, data validation, and structured datasets. Support pipeline movement, health and hygiene, and future-quarter build reporting; develop clear visualizations and dashboards using Excel, Power BI, or similar tools. Validate data quality, reconcile conflicting inputs, document reporting logic, and improve consistency and timeliness of leadership reporting.
• AI-Enabled Execution & Process Improvement: Use approved AI tools regularly to accelerate analysis, summarize complex inputs, draft executive materials, and support planning workflows while validating outputs and protecting critical data. Identify repetitive reporting and coordination work; create reusable prompts, templates, automations, and documented processes that reduce manual effort and improve scalability.

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications:
  • Experience in financial analysis, FP&A, sales operations analytics, business planning, corporate strategy, or another quantitatively rigorous business analyst role.
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency, including financial or operational modeling, pivot tables, complex formulas, lookups, sensitivity/scenario analysis, and large dataset analysis.
  • Experience performing variance and performance analysis, developing forecasts or scenarios, and producing decision-ready business reports or executive presentations.
  • Strong quantitative reasoning and business acumen; ability to challenge assumptions, reconcile discrepancies, interpret financial and sales metrics, and explain the implications.
  • Demonstrated organization, attention to detail, stakeholder coordination, and ability to manage multiple deadlines.
  • Practical experience using AI tools for research, synthesis, reporting, or workflow productivity, with appropriate validation.
  • Clear written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate during U.S. East Coast business hours.
• Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience in corporate finance, FP&A, management consulting, commercial analytics, or enterprise Sales Operations.
  • Understanding of bookings, forecast, pipeline coverage, attainment, conversion, deal slippage, and quarter-end financial or operating reporting.
  • Experience with Power BI, Salesforce reporting, PowerPoint, financial planning tools, or other business intelligence platforms.
  • Experience developing repeatable AI-assisted workflows, process automations, or self-service reporting.
  • Exposure to annual planning, QBRs, leadership offsites, action tracking, or executive factbooks.

Pay

The starting salary range for this position is $114,100.00 to $157,000.00, with specific ranges for certain locations: New York City Metro Area ($143,800.00 - $217,000.00), Non-Metro New York State & Washington State ($132,600.00 - $192,700.00). Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
• Paid parental leave
• Short and long-term disability coverage
• Basic life insurance
• Paid time away, including holidays, birthday, year-end shutdown, personal wellness days, and volunteer days
• Sick time off
• Opportunities for restricted stock units and annual bonuses (for non-sales roles)
• Performance-based incentive pay for sales roles

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.