Technical Project Manager
Cisco · Posted Oct 26
Networking, cloud, cybersecurity, and enterprise IT infrastructure services
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About the role
The Platform as a Service (PaaS) team is responsible for critical internal platforms including API Gateways (Mule, Mashery), Kafka messaging, and file transfer services that power applications across Cisco. As a senior program/project manager, the role partners with platform engineering, SRE, security, and client support teams across multiple geographies to deliver reliable platform services, coordinate operations, and drive AI-enabled program management practices. The role leads delivery and operations for mission-critical PaaS initiatives end to end, from strategic planning and resource management through production operations, client support, and continuous improvement.
What you will do
- Program & Portfolio Leadership: Own end-to-end delivery for major platform programs; define roadmaps, milestones, dependencies, and RAID management across multiple concurrent initiatives aligned to business priorities.
- Resource & Capacity Planning: Lead quarterly and annual capacity planning across distributed engineering teams; forecast demand, balance priorities, identify skill gaps, and support hiring and onboarding with leadership.
- Platform Operations & Client Support: Partner with engineering and SRE teams to run critical platform services end to end—including deployments, change management, incident coordination, escalations, and SLA/SLO governance for API gateways, Kafka, and related PaaS offerings.
- Technical Representation & Stakeholder Management: Represent the team in architecture reviews, cross-functional steering forums, and senior stakeholder discussions; translate business priorities into engineering plans and communicate technical tradeoffs clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
- AI-Enabled Program Management: Champion practical use of AI tools (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT, automation assistants) for sprint/portfolio planning, status reporting, risk analysis, documentation, and workflow automation—driving adoption of smart PM practices across the team.
- Global Collaboration & Governance: Lead effective collaboration across teams in multiple time zones; establish operating rhythms, metrics, and executive reporting on delivery velocity, platform reliability, incident trends, and customer satisfaction.
Skills used in this role
What the employer is looking for
- 10+ years of experience in program/project management, technical program management, or Scrum Master leadership roles in software or platform engineering environments.
- Proven track record managing delivery and operations for mission-critical platform or infrastructure services (e.g., Kubernetes, API gateways, Kafka, cloud platforms, or internal developer platforms).
- Strong technical fluency with ability to engage credibly in architecture discussions, deployment pipelines, production incidents, and platform operational models.
- Demonstrated experience in portfolio-level resource planning, capacity management, and multi-team program planning across concurrent, high-priority initiatives.
- Hands-on use of AI tools for project/portfolio management, documentation, reporting, or workflow automation, combined with proven leadership of globally distributed cross-functional teams.
Preferred qualifications
- Certification as Scrum Master (CSM/PSM), PMP, PMI-ACP, or SAFe Program Consultant.
- Prior background in SRE, DevOps, or platform engineering before transitioning to program management.
- Direct experience with API Gateways (Mashery, Mule), Kafka, or enterprise middleware platforms.
- Exposure to observability, incident management, and ITSM tools (ServiceNow, PagerDuty, Splunk, Grafana, etc.) and experience building AI-assisted reporting or PM workflow automations.
- Exceptional communication, executive stakeholder management, and experience presenting program status and recommendations to senior leadership in a collaborative, global team environment.
Benefits and support
- Compensation and benefits are detailed in the job posting
About Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc. is a worldwide leader in IT, networking, and cybersecurity solutions that transform how people connect, communicate, and collaborate. The company specializes in routing, switching, data center infrastructure, and software-defined networking designed for enterprises of all sizes. Today, Cisco drives major advancements in AI infrastructure, observability, and secure hybrid work platforms.
- Industry
- Networking
- Company size
- 90000+ employees
- Founded
- 1984
- Location
- San Jose, California, USA
- Funding stage
- Public Company
Leadership
Chair and Chief Executive Officer
President and Chief Product Officer
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer
Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer
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