Product Strategy Lead Jobs in California

The application window is expected to close on: 09/01/2026Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Director, Product Marketing - AI Growth Strategy - Full Stack | San Jose, CA (or other US locations) | Hybrid

Meet the Team

Cisco is building the infrastructure foundation for the AI era: the networks, data centers, security, observability, automation, and operations capabilities customers need to move AI from experiments to production at enterprise scale. We are seeking a senior product marketing leader who can take a full-stack view to turn deep infrastructure innovation into a clear market narrative, differentiated positioning, and go-to-market strategy. This leader will help customers understand why Cisco is uniquely positioned to power secure, connected, AI-ready organizations across the entire technology stack. You will work closely with Product Management, Engineering, Sales, Corporate Marketing, Analyst Relations, Communications, and partner teams to shape category-defining stories, launch high-impact infrastructure solutions, and equip the business to win with enterprise buyers, partners, analysts, and executives.

Your Impact

As the Director of Product Marketing for AI Infrastructure, you will drive the outbound product marketing strategy, connecting technical capabilities to the business outcomes customers need as they modernize for AI workloads. You will define the narrative, positioning, messaging, and go-to-market strategy that show how Cisco infrastructure helps organizations build the secure, high-performance foundation required for the AI era. By translating complex infrastructure innovation into crisp customer use cases and strategic plans, you will align cross-functional teams and convert capabilities into demand, pipeline, and customer confidence. Your success will be measured by your ability to frame the market, align executives and product leaders through clear executive communication, and deliver scalable enablement that equips sellers and partners to articulate Cisco's AI infrastructure value. This is a high-influence role where your strategic planning and customer-facing expertise will directly impact Cisco's position as a leader in the AI era.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors + 15 years of related experience, Masters + 12 years of related experience, or PhD + 8 years of related experience, or equivalent related work experience. Also requires 4+ years of supervisory experience.
• 10+ years of experience in outbound product management and go-to-market strategy for enterprise infrastructure, networking, data center, cloud, security, or AI/ML platforms.
• 7+ years of experience in developing product positioning, messaging, and launch plans for complex technology solutions.
• 5+ years of experience utilizing market data, customer insight, and campaign performance metrics to refine marketing strategies.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exceptional executive communication skills with the ability to influence senior leaders and build alignment across cross-functional teams.
• Strong customer-facing presence, capable of translating technical roadmaps into compelling customer narratives and use cases.
• Deep understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads and what enterprises need to run them safely, securely, and at scale.
• Highly collaborative approach to partnering with product, engineering, sales, and marketing teams in fast-moving, ambiguous markets.

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.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $233,900.00 to $330,400.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position 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. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 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 determined by Cisco
• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .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%; and
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:
$233,900.00 - $380,000.00

Non-Metro New York state& Washington state:
$220,900.00 - $344,300.00

• For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

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