Senior Director, Solutions Designer at Cisco

The application window has been extended and is expected to close on: January 16th, 2026.

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

As the Solutions Engineering Leader for Canada, you will join Cisco’s Canadian leadership team and report directly to the President of Cisco Canada. You will lead, inspire, and develop a high-performing team of Solutions Engineers across the country. Together, you will serve as champions for technical excellence and innovation—fostering a culture of inclusion, continuous learning, and collaboration. Your team partners closely with other Cisco functions, including Engineering, Architecture, Customer Experience (CX), Partners, Marketing, and Sales, to deliver exceptional value to our customers and drive Cisco’s presence in the Canadian market.

Your Impact

• Lead, coach, and develop a world-class Solutions Engineering team—building technical, professional, and business capabilities.
• Attract, recruit, and retain top talent while fostering an inclusive, innovative, and high-performing culture.
• Align Cisco solutions to customer business priorities, acting as a trusted technical advisor and executive sponsor.
• Champion a customer-first mentality by delivering measurable value and driving customer satisfaction throughout the lifecycle—Land, Adopt, Expand, Renew.
• Leverage data-driven insights, performance metrics, and KPIs to assess and elevate team execution, capacity, and market alignment.
• Drive strategic collaboration across internal and external networks to deliver innovative and differentiated solutions.
• Serve as a thought leader and technical visionary, building Cisco’s market presence through events, social channels, and leadership engagements.
• Embrace and lead change, including AI adoption, to keep the team agile, future-ready, and at the forefront of industry trends.
• Partner with business entities and global architecture teams to develop customer solutions that are technically sound, cost-effective, and aligned with Cisco’s strategy.
• Influence strategic direction and execution for the Canadian SE team in alignment with WW Sales and Global Systems Engineering.
  
  

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years experience leading and developing high-performing customer-facing technical teams.
• Second-line leadership experience required
• Experience in networking, security, collaboration, or related technology domains.
• Strong understanding of Cisco’s portfolio across hardware, software, and services.
• Experience driving business outcomes and revenue growth.
• Experience building and maintaining executive-level relationships.
• Understanding of digital transformation trends and methodologies.
• Ability to articulate technical vision and strategy.
• Data-driven decision-making skills and experience with performance metrics.
• Location: Canada Remote, with Ontario or Quebec preferred
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Strategic thinking and execution, with the ability to define and deliver on a long-term vision.
• Demonstrated talent development and succession planning expertise.
• Change management and adaptability in dynamic environments.
• Executive presence, with strong communication and presentation skills.
• Cross-functional collaboration experience.
• Inclusive leadership, fostering diversity and a culture where every voice is valued.
• Strong business acumen, including revenue and performance metrics management, customer lifecycle value realization, and market and competitive intelligence.
• AI and emerging technology fluency.
• Experience influencing senior leadership and contributing to strategic decision-making.
• Track record of building market presence through speaking engagements, industry events, and social media thought leadership.
  
  

Cisco may use AI Tools to review candidate-provided details—such as skills, experience, location, and education—to determine how closely candidates match job criteria. AI Tools are intended to guide and support the recruitment team in identifying and prioritizing candidates but are not used in isolation or without human judgment. For more information about Cisco’s use of AI please see the Job Candidate Privacy Statement found here.

Rencontrez l’équipe

En tant que dirigeant/dirigeante, spécialiste en ingénierie de solutions pour le Canada, vous vous joindrez à l’équipe de direction canadienne de Cisco et relèverez directement du président de Cisco Canada. Vous dirigerez, inspirerez et développerez une équipe hautement performante d’ingénieurs et ingénieures en solutions à l’échelle du pays. Ensemble, vous agirez en tant que champions de l’excellence technique et de l’innovation en favorisant une culture d’inclusion, d’apprentissage continu et de collaboration. Votre équipe travaille en étroite collaboration avec d’autres fonctions de Cisco, notamment l’ingénierie, l’architecture, l’expérience client (CX), les partenaires, le marketing et les ventes, afin d’offrir une valeur exceptionnelle à nos clients et de renforcer la présence de Cisco sur le marché canadien.

Votre impact

• Diriger, encadrer et développer une équipe d’ingénierie de solutions de classe mondiale en renforçant les capacités techniques, professionnelles et commerciales.
• Attirer, recruter et retenir les meilleurs talents tout en favorisant une culture inclusive, innovante et hautement performante.
• Harmoniser les solutions Cisco avec les priorités commerciales des clients, en agissant à titre de conseiller technique de confiance et de commanditaire de la direction.
• Promouvoir un état d’esprit axé sur le client en offrant une valeur mesurable et en favorisant la satisfaction des clients tout au long du cycle de vie – acquisition, adoption, expansion et renouvellement.
• Tirer parti d’informations basées sur les données, d’indicateurs de rendement et d’IRC pour évaluer et améliorer l’exécution de l’équipe, la capacité et l’harmonisation avec le marché.
• Stimuler la collaboration stratégique dans les réseaux internes et externes pour fournir des solutions innovantes et différenciées.
• Agir en tant que leader d’opinion et visionnaire technique en renforçant la présence de Cisco sur le marché par le biais d’événements, des canaux sociaux et d’engagements de direction.
• Adopter et stimuler le changement, y compris l’adoption de l’IA, afin de garder l’équipe agile, prête pour l’avenir et à l’avant-garde des tendances du secteur.
• Collaborer avec les entités commerciales et les équipes d’architecture mondiale pour développer des solutions clients qui sont techniquement fiables, rentables et alignées sur la stratégie de Cisco.
• Influencer la direction et l’exécution stratégiques pour l’équipe de spécialistes en ingénierie de réseau (SE) canadienne en harmonisation avec les équipes Ventes mondiale et Ingénierie des systèmes mondiaux.
  
  

Qualifications Minimales

• 10 ans d’expérience dans la direction et le développement d’équipes techniques hautement performantes en contact direct avec les clients.
• Expérience en direction de deuxième ligne requise
• Expérience dans les domaines des réseaux, de la sécurité ou de la collaboration ou dans des domaines technologiques connexes.
• Excellente compréhension de la gamme de produits de Cisco en matière de matériel, de logiciels et de services.
• Expérience dans l’obtention de résultats commerciaux et la croissance des revenus.
• Expérience dans l’établissement et le maintien de relations avec des cadres.
• Compréhension des tendances et des méthodologies de la transformation numérique.
• Capacité à formuler une vision et une stratégie techniques.
• Compétences en matière de prise de décisions axée sur les données et expérience avec les indicateurs de rendement.
• Emplacement : À distance au Canada – de préférence en Ontario ou au Québec
  
  

Qualifications Recherchées

• Réflexion et exécution stratégiques, avec la capacité de définir et de mettre en œuvre une vision à long terme.
• Expertise démontrée en matière de perfectionnement des talents et de planification de la relève.
• Gestion du changement et capacité d’adaptation dans les environnements dynamiques.
• Aptitude à diriger, avec d’excellentes capacités de communication et de présentation.
• Expérience en collaboration interfonctionnelle
• Leadership inclusif, promotion de la diversité et culture où chaque voix est valorisée.
• Solide sens des affaires, y compris en ce qui concerne la gestion des revenus et des indicateurs de rendement, la réalisation de la valeur du cycle de vie du client et la veille sur le marché et la concurrence.
• Maîtrise de l’IA et des technologies émergentes.
• Expérience d’influence auprès de la haute direction et de contribution à la prise de décision stratégique.
• Expérience dans le renforcement de la présence sur le marché grâce à des conférences, à des événements du secteur et au leadership éclairé dans les médias sociaux.
  
  

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 $381,200.00 to $482,600.00 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

$372,600.00 - $540,900.00

Non-Metro New York State & Washington State

$355,700.00 - $516,300.00

• 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.