Pursuit Lead, Strategic Engagement Team at Cisco

Meet the Team

The EMEA SET team is the engine room for Cisco's largest, most strategic deals in EMEA. We bring a diverse blend of cross-domain architecture, commercial expertise, and structured governance to every pursuit. Joining us means being at the forefront of Cisco's most strategic opportunities, directly shaping the future of our customer's digital transformation and contributing to our global success.

Your Impact

As a SET Pursuit Lead, you will:

Be responsible for the Pursuit Lifecycle:

Lead complex, multi-year pursuits (e.g., Whole Portfolio Agreements, Strategic Relationship Agreements, and XaaS/Flexible Consumption models) through our 7-stage methodology.

Orchestrate Cross-Functional Teams:

Partner with Client Executives, Sales Specialists, CxO Advisers, Enterprise Strategists, Legal and Commercial Finance to lead without authority via matrix-management, building trust and leading winning pursuits.

Commercial & Financial Leadership:

Lead the Commercial Design Tower, working collaboratively with Finance and the Account Team to develop pricing strategies, price-to-win models, and to review 5-year P&L summaries. You will be accountable for representing the viability and profitability of the deal.

Governance & Assurance:

Act as the primary interface for executive customers and governance committees. You will manage risk, resource mapping, and RACI across internal and external collaborators.

Drive Transformation:

Facilitate the translation of customer requirements into future-state architecture and operating models. You will quantify business value, including KPIs and TCO savings, to justify large-scale investments – keeping strategic relevance top of mind.

Strategic Alignment:

Engage with Segment Leaders, CX, Legal, Operations, and Business Units to resolve risks and ensure alignment with Cisco's global business priorities.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Business, Communication, Marketing, Network Engineering or a related field.
• Minimum of five years of professional experience in sales, business development, account management or strategic pursuits.
• Proven experience with executive presence, polished communication, and the ability to simplify complex technical concepts for non-technical audiences

Preferred Qualifications

• A Seasoned Leader:

5+ years of experience in large deal execution, sales leadership, or solution architecture. You have exceptional communication, emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, fostering strong relationships with customers at all levels in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.

• Expert in Deal Methodology:

You possess an understanding of the end-to-end service management lifecycle and are comfortable navigating complex contractual structures, including service-led and consumption-based models.

• Analytical & Strategic:

You have demonstrated critical thinking and problem solving capabilities.

• Collaborative Negotiator:

You are an expert at building relationships across all levels-from IT partners to the C-suite-and can negotiate effectively with both internal functions and external partners.

• Resilient & Adaptable:

You thrive in an environment that embraces innovation and change. You are comfortable with ambiguity and can prioritize key actions across multiple simultaneous pursuits. You will balance your time effectively across multiple pursuits ensuring we constantly qualify and prioritise the key actions which allow Cisco to be successful including pipeline reporting and generation.

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.