Principal Product Manager - Network Operating System Strategy & Routing Innovation

About the role

The application window is expected to close on: 12/17/2026

Meet the Team

The Provider Connectivity Software and Architectures product management team drives the routing software, automation portfolio and network architectures strategy and roadmap for Cisco's service provider, cloud, and large-scale infrastructure customers.

Our mission is to lead the market towards autonomous networking with next-generation routing, automation and architectures, ensuring our infrastructure meets the extensive scale and performance demands of the AI era. By bridging ground breaking developments in silicon and optics with sophisticated routing technologies and AIOps, we design the resilient, agile network foundations vital to power critically important workloads.

Guided by Cisco's Guiding Principles, specifically our commitment to innovate together and prioritize customer success, we translate complex, long-term technical visions into tangible market leadership, ensuring our infrastructure remains the intelligent, robust engine for our customers' most ambitious digital transformations.

Our team focuses on advancing Cisco's routing and automation portfolio, including leadership across software technologies, network operating systems, automation and end-to-end strategic architectures. We collaborate closely with customers, partners, standards organizations, and open-source communities to address complex networking challenges and deliver secure, resilient, and operationally efficient solutions at scale.

Your Impact

As a key leader in our organization, you will get results across three core pillars:

• Strategic Vision & Roadmap: Define the long-term roadmap for our routing software technologies and operating systems (including IOS XR and SONiC), ensuring alignment across hardware platforms, Cisco Cloud Control, Crosswork automation, and observability.
• Industry Influence & Thought Leadership: Serve as the primary voice for Cisco's routing innovation by representing our interests in standards bodies (IETF, SONiC community), engaging with executive-level strategic customers, and driving industry discourse through publications and conferences.
• Multi-functional Execution: Partner directly with engineering, sales, and business unit leaders to prioritize investments and deliver differentiated, scalable software solutions that translate technical foresight into commercial success.

Minimum Qualifications

• 15+ years of professional experience in networking software, routing technologies, and network operating systems.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering or similar STEM field.
• Expertise in one or more of the following core networking domains and protocols: IOS XR, SONiC, Linux-based network operating systems, Segment Routing (SR-MPLS/SRv6), EVPN/VXLAN MPLS BGP, IS-IS, OSPF, Network security, Model-driven programmability (YANG, NETCONF, gNMI) and Cloud-native software architectures.
• History of defining long-term technology strategies and successfully translating them into product roadmaps.
• Established reputation as an industry inspiring leader with a track record of participation in technical committees, patents, and/or major industry forums.
• Executive communication skills with the ability to influence customers, engineering, partners, analysts, and senior leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience contributing to or leading open-source communities and global networking standards.
• Deep experience with cloud-native software architectures and AI-driven infrastructure operations.
• Proven ability to build and maintain trusted relationships with the world's largest service providers and cloud operators.

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.

Pay and benefits

The starting salary range posted for this position is $233,900.00 to $330,400.00 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:

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.