Incubation Sales Leader, Multicloud Network Architectures
Cisco · San Jose, California, US · Remote
What they ask for
About the role
The application window is expected to close on: 10/28/2026This remote role is open to 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 the company’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 design, test, and validate early-stage GTM hypotheses, secure the company’s first "lighthouse" customer wins, and build the repeatable sales and partner playbooks required to graduate these products into the broader Specialist and Generalist sales organizations.
Your impact As the Sales Leader for Multicloud Fabric (MCF), you will incubate MCF as a software-led expansion of Cisco’s networking install base. You will lead the MCF Account Executive pod, establishing field cadence, account coverage, pipeline governance, and proof gates. Your focus will be on prioritizing the brownfield Cisco Network users cohort while maintaining a bounded greenfield test. You will drive the development of key accounts as customer-validated lighthouses, ensuring measurable savings and time-to-value. Additionally, you will build Cloud Service Provider and Network-as-a-Service routes in collaboration with the Partner Ecosystem team, run cross-functional commercial workstreams to define pricing and seller credits, and ensure MCF is visible and operable through Cisco Cloud Control. You will also set rigorous product-simplicity gates to reduce support burdens and streamline the customer experience.
Minimum qualifications • 12+ years of demonstrated expertise in Network software and solutions. • Experience with routing, SD-WAN, and Multicloud Fabric Network architectures, including hands on work with of cloud-hosting and multicloud deployment complexity. • Proven track record of lighthouse customer acquisition, including validating early-stage GTM hypotheses and securing initial enterprise wins. • 5+ years of experience designing and executing sales motions, including defining account coverage, pipeline governance, and seller coaching for specialized sales pods. • Validated background in data-driven forecast and pipeline management, with the ability to establish proof gates and controlled go-to-market recommendations across a team.
Preferred qualifications • Advanced proficiency in cross-functional orchestration, successfully partnering with Product, Finance, Commerce, and Business Units on commercial workstreams. • Deep understanding of ecosystem and co-sell proficiency, particularly in building Cloud Service Provider or Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) routes and partner playbooks. • Experience working in or leading a startup sales incubation or entirely new product line incubation at a large enterprise. • Exceptional outcome-based selling skills, with the ability to quantify measurable savings, time-to-value, and operational efficiencies. • Experience setting product-simplicity gates and utilizing telemetry to track activation, adoption, and consumption metrics. • Strategic ability to navigate complex commercial models, including ACV/consumption versus TCV seller credits, minimums, caps, and partner economics.
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 $366,600.00 to $472,300.00 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: $366,600.00 - $543,100.00 Non-Metro New York state & Washington state: $329,800.00 - $512,400.00 * 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.