Strategy & Planning Manager

The application window is expected to close on: 11/07/2026Partner Strategy Manager - Splunk CX Technical Partner Strategy

Meet the Team Splunk, a Cisco company, is building a safer and more resilient digital world with an end-to-end full stack platform made for a hybrid, multi-cloud world. Leading enterprises use our unified security and observability platform to keep their digital systems secure and reliable. Come help organizations be their best, while you reach new heights with a team that has your back.

Your Impact You will help craft Cisco's CX partner strategy with a focus on Splunk Observability, collaborating closely with senior leaders to scale partner programs that drive global growth for Cisco. As a Technical Partner Strategy Manager, you will:

• Act as the consultative technical authority on Observability Cloud and OpenTelemetry (OTel) for Partner CX Practice Leads and Principal Architects.
• Whiteboard, review, and advise on complex multi-cloud monitoring architectures (APM, Infrastructure Monitoring, Log/Digital Experience/Synthetic Monitoring) delivered by partner technical teams.
• Guide partners on Kubernetes instrumentation standards, distributed tracing methodologies, and standardizing data ingestion pipelines using the OpenTelemetry Collector.
• Provide expert consultative guidance to partner delivery teams to de-risk complex implementations, eliminate deployment friction, and accelerate customer time-to-value.
• Develop and execute partner-led customer success strategies, drive strategic business model projects, and influence cross-functional leaders to formulate long-term priorities for ecosystem growth.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of total experience across enterprise architecture, partner solutions architecture, technical consulting, or partner strategy.
• 5+ years of experience focused on cloud-native observability, APM, or distributed systems monitoring.
• Deep architectural proficiency in modern observability domains (APM, RUM, Metrics/Logs/Traces correlation, and OpenTelemetry standards) and containerized environments (Kubernetes, Docker).
• Demonstrated leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills to influence senior leaders across various geographies.

Preferred Qualifications

• Current certifications or consultant accreditations in Splunk (e.g., Splunk Observability Consultant I/II, Splunk Core Certified Consultant) or equivalent enterprise platforms (Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic).
• Current Cloud-Native & Open Source Accreditations such as CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator), CKAD, OpenTelemetry Certified Associate (OTCA), or Prometheus Certified Associate (PCA).
• Current Hyperscaler Certifications including AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect, or Google Cloud Certified Professional.
• Excellence in strategy development, including project management, business analysis, and complex problem-solving.
• Outstanding business judgment with the ability to combine strategic decision-making with tactical execution.

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 $155,500.00 to $226,800.00 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:

$198,500.00 - $324,100.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$180,200.00 - $278,600.00

• 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.