Technical Activation Lead

Location: San Jose, California, US

The application window is expected to close on: 10/28/2026

This remote role is open for US based candidates, no relocation is available.

Meet the Team

You will join the Global GTM Incubation & Emerging Technologies team, responsible for commercializing and scaling Cisco’s newest technology innovations. Sourced directly from our Product and Business Units, these rapid innovations require a specialized, agile approach to find market fit before they can be absorbed by the mainstream sales force. Our mission is to partner with Product leaders to develop, test, and validate early-stage GTM hypotheses. You will also secure the company’s first "lighthouse" customer wins and build the repeatable sales and partner playbooks required to bring these products into the broader Specialist and Generalist sales organizations.

Your Impact

As the Incubation Technical Activation Lead, you’ll turn approved cross-product technical and architectural decisions into dated, owned workstreams that reach demonstrable customer and field readiness. You will translate approved use cases and architecture into coordinated workstreams, accountable owners, dependencies, milestones, and acceptance criteria across AI Defense, Cloud Control, MCF, and future incubation offers.

You will maintain the technical activation register, decision log, readiness checklist, partner-delivery tracker, use-case charter, and structured feedback register, exposing unresolved dependencies and advancing with evidence. You will coordinate product, engineering, SE, dCloud/demo, partner, CX/support, legal/security, and field execution, including partner SOW deliverables, making handoffs and test results reusable across teams.

You will develop reference collaterals of proof plans, deployment patterns, and field-readiness evidence, running gates from concept through coordinated proof, pilot, launch readiness, and scale. For example, you will orchestrate AI Defense competitive-proof readiness, Cloud Control onboarding procedures, and partner Multi Cloud Fabric (MCF) managed service practice high level design, ensuring acceptance proof is driven by tangible results rather than just meetings or demos.

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years of demonstrated expertise in Network software and solutions.
• Strong architectural literacy with the ability to create reference demos, proof plans, deployment patterns, and enablement materials for early-stage technology innovations.
• Experience maintaining technical registers, decision logs, and readiness checklists, identifying dependencies and raising issues using data-driven evidence.
• 5+ years of experience driving rapid prototyping and Proof of Concepts (PoCs) from initial concept through pilot, launch readiness, and scale.
• Proven experience leading an engineering team aligned with sales counterparts.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced expertise in orchestrating sophisticated technical proofs, such as AI Defense, Cloud Control, or similar emerging technology validations.
• Outstanding skill in handling ambiguity within fast-paced incubation environments, adapting quickly to shifting priorities and early-stage Go-To-Market hypotheses.
• Deep understanding of product partnership dynamics by building repeatable sales and partner playbooks for lighthouse customer wins.
• Strong background in developing reusable results that streamline processes across cross-functional teams.
• Excellent communication and project management skills, consistently demonstrated through tangible technical milestones rather than conceptual discussions.

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 $266,100.00 to $342,900.00 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

$266,100.00 - $394,300.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state

$246,800.00 - $383,500.00

• 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.

Additional Locations: Acton, Massachusetts, US, New York, New York, US, Atlanta, Georgia, US, Chicago, Illinois, US, San Diego, California, US, Durham, North Carolina, US