Customer Program Manager

Role Summary

This position requires residency in Pittsburgh, PA, and focuses on leading intricate, customer-facing programs involving Cisco technologies and services. The Customer Program Manager is responsible for aligning customer priorities into effective coordinated execution plans and ensuring clear, measurable business results. This role encompasses delivery performance oversight, stakeholder coordination, financial management, governance, risk mitigation, and fostering ongoing improvement, all enhanced by the deliberate use of AI and automation tools.

Who You Are

• Experienced in managing customer-centric programs with strong strategic, operational, financial, and technical expertise.
• Skilled at building trusted relationships with stakeholders, managing ambiguity, assessing risk, and utilizing data alongside approved AI and automation to optimize delivery while safeguarding sensitive information and maintaining human oversight.
• Practically proficient in applying AI-driven workflows, automation, and agent technologies beyond simple chatbots to enhance business processes, resulting in measurable gains in efficiency, quality, speed, or outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead comprehensive customer projects and programs from start through completion within Cisco's technology and services domains.
• Convert client priorities into strategic plans, delivery roadmaps, timelines, milestones, and quantifiable business goals.
• Control project scope, scheduling, budget adherence, quality standards, financial outcomes, customer satisfaction, risk management, dependencies, and changes.
• Engage and coordinate with internal and external stakeholders, delivering regular updates on program status, financials, risks, recommendations, and decisive points to senior leadership.
• Institute governance frameworks, communication mechanisms, escalation protocols, risk strategies, and change control processes; anticipate potential issues and lead mitigation and recovery efforts.
• Oversee forecasting, invoicing, revenue, cost, margins, and ensure precise reporting across Cisco operations.
• Implement delivery methodologies such as Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid models tailored to program and customer requirements, while aligning with Cisco’s delivery, financial, contractual, documentation, and operational standards.
• Leverage technical expertise to design delivery plans, manage technical integrations, and link technical execution to customer and business results.
• Mentor project and program managers to uphold consistent delivery standards, facilitate knowledge sharing, and drive continuous improvement.
• Utilize sanctioned AI, analytics, and automation tools to enhance planning, reporting, forecasting, risk identification, communications, and program closure activities.
• Identify and act on opportunities to automate manual tasks, boosting productivity, quality, cycle times, and delivery effectiveness using AI and automation.
• Ensure AI-generated outputs and automation are accurate, relevant, contextually appropriate, properly controlled, and traceable.
• Maintain human accountability for client commitments, financial decisions, approvals, and choices supported by AI insights.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree plus minimum eight years relevant experience, or Master’s degree with six years, or Doctoral degree with three years, or equivalent professional experience.
• Active Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent recognized certification.
• Progressively responsible experience managing complex customer-facing projects within professional services, management consulting, systems integration, or similar enterprise service sectors.
• Proven practical application of AI and automation technologies beyond basic chatbots, supported by at least one instance demonstrating clear business or operational benefit.
• Strong skills in executive-level and client-facing communication, presentation, facilitation, negotiation, and problem-solving, plus the ability to manage uncertainty effectively.
• Capability to translate technical concepts, delivery metrics, and data analytics into tangible customer and business results.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in leadership roles within management consulting, technology consulting, systems integration, or enterprise professional services environments.
• Expertise in integrating AI-driven tools, automation, or agents into project management, PMO, service delivery, or operational workflows with proven articulation of business value.
• Familiarity with Cisco’s architectures, technologies, business processes, operational tools, and service delivery methodologies.
• Additional certifications such as PMI-CPMAI, PgMP, Agile, Scrum, ITIL, change management, financial management, or Cisco technical accreditations.

About Cisco

Cisco is at the forefront of innovation, connecting and protecting organizations through AI-powered data and infrastructure solutions that merge physical and digital environments. Our four decades of groundbreaking work empower collaboration worldwide to create substantial impact. Our global teams emphasize empathy and teamwork to achieve large-scale accomplishments. As Cisco transforms industries and communities, your role will be pivotal in driving this mission.