The application window is expected to close on: 08/21/2026

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

Cisco is the worldwide leader in Data Center and AI networking innovation. Our Nexus & AI Networking team delivers transformational solutions that empower enterprises, cloud providers, and hyperscalers to unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence and next-generation data center architectures. 

As a Director of Technical Marketing, you will join a team of subject matter authorities, working on ground breaking data center networking fabric architectures and Agentic Ops frameworks. You will operate as a senior individual contributor and trusted executive advisor, collaborating across engineering, product management, sales, and the broader industry ecosystem to build the future of networking.

Your Impact

In this role, you will be the most senior technical voice behind Cisco’s Nexus 9000 portfolio, NX-OS, Nexus Dashboard, and AI Networking Fabric solutions. Your work will directly influence product roadmaps, competitive positioning, and go-to-market strategies.

Key responsibilities include:

• Technical Authority: Define, validate, and publish authoritative reference architectures for critically meaningful use cases, including AI/ML training fabrics, VXLAN/EVPN, and HPC environments.

• Strategic Influence: Function as an executive technical advisor to product management and engineering, identifying market whitespace and championing strategic technical requirements.

• Thought Leadership: Author landmark technical publications and represent Cisco at world-class industry events (e.g., Cisco Live, OCP Summit, GTC).

• Customer & Partner Engagement: Lead deep-dive technical briefings for strategic global accounts and build long-term relationships with ecosystem partners like NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel.

• Hands-On Innovation: Build and validate end-to-end lab environments, perform rigorous benchmarking, and develop automation frameworks to demonstrate Cisco’s differentiation.

• Mentorship: Act as a force multiplier by mentoring senior and principal-level engineers and driving technical excellence across the organization.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline (PhD is a plus) or equivalent combination of skills and experience.

• Experience: 15+ years of deep technical experience in data center networking, systems engineering, product engineering, or technical marketing.

• Networking Expertise: 10+ years of expert-level proficiency in NX-OS, Nexus platform architectures, VXLAN, EVPN, BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, Segment Routing, and data center fabric build at scale.

• AI/HPC Proficiency: 10+ years of hands-on expertise in RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE v2), GPUDirect RDMA, GPU cluster interconnect design, and lossless Ethernet fabric design.

• Automation: 10+ years proficiency in Python, Ansible, Terraform, YANG/NETCONF, gNMI, and OpenConfig.

Preferred Qualifications

• Leadership: Prior people management or technical team leadership experience.

• Certifications: CCIE Data Center, CCIE Service Provider, or equivalent expert-level industry certifications.

• Ecosystem Experience: Hands-on experience with AI infrastructure platforms (e.g., NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD, HGX) and open-source networking (SONiC, FRRouting, DPDK).

• Cloud & Performance: Experience with cloud-native networking, Kubernetes (CNI plugins), service mesh architectures, and performance benchmarking tools (IXIA, Spirent).

• Industry Recognition: Published patents, academic papers, or recognized contributions to data center/AI domains.

• Business Acuity: Familiarity with P&L dynamics, business planning, and go-to-market strategies for technical products.

• Analyst Relations: Exposure to working with Gartner, IDC, or Forrester analysts in a technical advisory capacity.

• Communication: Outstanding written and verbal skills, with a consistent track record to convey sophisticated technical concepts to both technical and executive audiences.

• Leadership: Demonstrated ability to drive outcomes and influence product strategy through cross-functional leadership without direct authority.

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 $220,900.00 to $291,500.00 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.