Job Description
Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Meet the Team
The AI Software & Platform Group is a newly formed, high-impact team at Cisco, uniting world-class AI researchers, software engineers, product managers and product marketers. Our mission: to build and launch innovative AI products and platforms that redefine what’s possible for customers at global scale. We thrive on solving complex challenges that come with connecting people, devices and data everywhere.
Your Impact
We are seeking a dynamic, savvy, and results-driven Product Marketing Manager to join the team responsible for AI Defense. You will play a pivotal role in shaping the strategy, messaging, and go-to-market execution for a flagship AI product that’s defining the industry standard. Building on the momentum of a highly successful first-year in market, you’ll have the opportunity to amplify the story, engage customers and influencers, and drive further adoption in the fast-evolving AI security space.
Build Product Messaging & Positioning – Develop and refine compelling value propositions and messaging frameworks that clearly articulate Cisco AI Defense’s differentiation in AI guardrails, red teaming, model validation, and agent security. Translate highly technical capabilities—such as prompt injection protection, data leakage prevention, model risk scoring, and adversarial simulation—into clear business outcomes for CISOs, security architects, AI leaders, and developers.
Drive Go-To-Market Success – Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Sales and Marketing teams to launch new features, drive adoption, and accelerate customer acquisition and growth.
Market Intelligence – Monitor emerging AI threats, evolving regulatory frameworks, and competitive activity. Deliver actionable market intelligence that informs product roadmap and strengthens Cisco’s leadership in responsible and secure AI adoption.
Enable Sales & Partners – Create compelling collateral, enablement materials, and training that empower sales teams, partners, and customer experience to effectively communicate the value of AI Defense.
Customer & Thought Leadership Storytelling – Develop blogs, whitepapers, case studies, webinars, and executive presentations that reinforce Cisco’s authority in AI security. Represent the product internally and externally at industry events, analyst briefings, and customer engagements.
Minimum Qualifications
Over 5 years of experience in product marketing, product management, or related roles within AI security, cybersecurity, SaaS, cloud, or AI/ML domains.
Proven ability to translate complex AI security technologies into clear, outcome-focused messaging.
Demonstrated success launching and scaling enterprise AI software products or major features in high-growth or high-visibility settings.
Strong knowledge of the AI security landscape, including key capabilities, customer needs, and roadmap development.
Excellent communication and presentation skills, with experience engaging technical and executive audiences, including CISOs and AI leaders; bachelor’s degree required (technical or business preferred).
Preferred Qualifications
Experience in AI security, model governance, application security, or cloud security.
Familiarity with generative AI architectures, LLMs, AI agents, and associated threat vectors (e.g., prompt injection, model poisoning, data exfiltration).
Experience marketing to enterprise security buyers and working closely with field sales teams.
Track record of contributing to category creation or positioning in emerging markets.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple high-impact initiatives simultaneously.
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 $136,000.00 to $171,400.00 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:
$136,000.00 - $197,100.00Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$121,000.00 - $175,400.00* 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.