Cisco

Customer Success Manager

Cisco • $130K — $180K *
Telecommunications & Hardware
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree with 8 years of experience, Master's degree with 6 years, or PhD with 3 years in a related field.
  • Professional level certification (e.g., CCNP) or similar industry certifications encouraged.
  • Experience with AI, automation, and cloud technologies.
  • Proven track record in customer success and risk management in a technology environment.
  • Strong interpersonal skills to engage with senior customer leadership.

Responsibilities

  • Manage a portfolio of complex, strategic accounts and oversee multi-workstream initiatives.
  • Use AI tools to identify adoption challenges and implement risk-mitigation strategies.
  • Lead health checks and accelerate adoption across multiple Cisco products.
  • Act as a technology evangelist, driving feedback to product teams.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally to design transformation roadmaps for proactive technology adoption.
  • Directly oversee the technical adoption strategy and refine adoption motions without CSS reliance.
  • Engage with customers’ senior leadership to shape strategic adoption plans.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies in AI and automation.
  • Collaborative work environment with cross-functional teams.
  • Engagement with senior leaders and strategic partners.
  • Growth opportunities within the company through mentorship and professional development.
  • Involvement in shaping product developments based on customer insights.
Full Job Description
The application window is expected to close on: 10/26/2026The Customer Success & Risk Management role is responsible for driving the successful adoption and utilization of Cisco technologies to ensure customer value realization and growth, proactively handling and mitigating renewal risks in alignment with the renewals team by demonstrating risk insights and adoption action plans to increase retention rates, and supporting customer expansion through finding opportunities for deeper product utilization and aligning technology to evolving business needs. This position develops and maintains strong technical influence with customer team members through product demonstrations and consultative sessions to address business challenges and objectives, leads alignment workshops to review adoption progress and drive customer outcomes for successful onboarding, adoption, and renewals, and acts as a technology evangelist by providing feedback from customers to Cisco's product teams to advise product development and improvements. The role also includes crafting and implementing technical adoption plans (TAPs) that align with customer goals to maximize technology investments, staying informed of delivered services and available software, directing customer requests to appropriate teams for resolution of adoption barriers, and collaborating with sales, customer success, delivery, renewals, and business entities to identify use cases that drive value and business outcomes. Additionally, the role requires staying up-to-date with the latest Cisco technologies, including AI, ML, automation, and cloud technologies, as well as maintaining awareness of the competitive landscape and industry trends to provide guide mentorship to customers.

What You'll Do:
  • Handles a portfolio with complex or strategic accounts, often with multiple team members (multi-product, multi-region, multi-stakeholder)
  • May supervise sophisticated, multi-workstream adoption initiatives, utilizing AI-tools to predict adoption challenges and driving value realization cadence and implementing risk-mitigation strategies throughout the lifecycle
  • Impacts across teams (e.g., standardization, playbook build)
  • Leverages deep technical knowledge across multiple products and solutions, acting as a technology evangelist to customers
  • Leads health checks and adoption accelerators; codifies standards for scale
  • Acts as a pilot user or early adopter of new AI / automation features to validate usefulness; proposes and drives small internal innovation experiments (e.g. automating health checks, anomaly detection)
  • Champions the use of AI tools to synthesize feedback and adoption data for ongoing improvement
  • Owns technical adoption strategy within their specialization and complete core adoption motions without reliance on CSSs
  • Collaborates with peers and cross-functional teams to share field insights and support enablement efforts
  • Uses CS' feedback tools to log adoption barriers, recognizes trends around recurring customer challenges, and surfaces to CXM/others as appropriate
  • Leads end-to-end orchestration of CS adoption initiatives across programs and partners, crafting sophisticated transformation roadmaps and driving adoption patterns that span multiple technologies and engage cross-functional teams
  • Guides adoption efforts with minimal oversight and mentors others on TAP quality and telemetry usage
  • Drives renewals interlock cadence and delivers de-risk and adoption strategies at scale; proactively surfaces and qualifies expansion, renewal, and new-business opportunities applying adoption insights, and routes to Sales/Renewals
  • Systematically scales and streamlines through reuse, modular playbooks, automation of routine tasks
  • Engages regularly, and through onsite meetings, with customers' senior leaders as a dialog partner and to shape strategic adoption plan
  • Lead alignment workshops; steers outcome roadmaps and executive updates; raises adoption risks with clear owners
  • Partners with customers to co-create proactive and predictive, personalized adoption journeys
  • Influences cross-functional internal teams (Product, Engineering, Sales) based on customer priorities
  • Guides pooled CSS and partner resources; sets cadence and governance for adoption plans and value reviews
  • Guides internal process improvements and pilots new ways of working
  • Leads cross-functional working groups involving CS, product, operations
  • Acts as a liaison across accounts, regions, or functional initiatives, ensuring a "one-team" customer experience
  • Maintains awareness of overlapping service engagements and other CSM teams, coordinating only where directly tied to software adoption plans
  • Provides field insights that influence pricing and packaging strategies
  • Identifies growth opportunities from adoption signals and partners with Sales on qualification and forecasting inputs (not direct funnel ownership)
  • Collaborates with Finance, Sales, and Operations to align software renewal targets and growth levers


Minimum Qualifications
  • Bachelors + 8 years of related experience, or
  • Masters + 6 years of related experience, or
  • PhD + 3 years of related experience, or


Equivalent relevant work experience
  • Professional level (e.g., CCNP) or equivalent relevant certification encouraged. Industry trend certifications

About Cisco

Cisco Careers

Join the vibrant team at Cisco, a global leader in networking and cybersecurity solutions, where innovation and leadership thrive. Cisco offers a plethora of job opportunities that cater to a range of skills and experiences, making it an ideal place for both seasoned professionals and those seeking an internship to jumpstart their career. Work You’ll Do At Cisco, you’ll be part of a culture that values diversity, leadership, and professional growth. Engage in work that matters with a team that combines technology, creativity, and the power of human connection to redefine networking. Cisco’s commitment to innovation isn’t just about technology, but also about transforming the way we work and collaborate. Cisco’s employment philosophy supports career advancement and nurtures a leadership pipeline that is equipped with diversity training and opportunities for growth. Whether you’re applying your skills to drive our latest innovations or using our vast networking capabilities to solve complex problems, at Cisco, every role is impactful. Join Our Dynamic Team Explore job opportunities in areas ranging from engineering to marketing, sales to cybersecurity. Cisco is hiring individuals who are passionate, curious, and ready to drive change. Positions at Cisco offer competitive benefits, a supportive culture, and the chance to work with cutting-edge technology. Internship Programs Kickstart your career with a Cisco internship. Gain invaluable industry experience, enhance your resume, and build professional networks that last a lifetime. Our internships provide hands-on experience and the chance to work on projects that matter. Leadership and Development Cisco is committed to fostering leadership skills and providing employees with the training needed to succeed. Our leadership programs help you develop new skills, manage teams effectively, and lead with confidence. Cisco’s commitment to professional development ensures that your career path is as dynamic as our technologies. Benefits and Culture Cisco understands the importance of a balanced life. Our benefits package is designed to ensure that our team members are healthy, happy, and secure. At Cisco, you’ll find a supportive culture that encourages open communication, teamwork, and mutual respect. Stay Connected Join Cisco’s Talent Network Stay informed about new positions that match your skills and interests. At Cisco, we value the curiosity and unique perspectives of our team members. Subscribe to receive personalized job alerts and insider tips directly from our hiring managers. Explore Cisco Jobs Ready to advance your career at Cisco? Search open positions, prepare your resume, and get ready for an interview that could lead to your next big opportunity. At Cisco, we’re not just filling positions—we’re investing in leaders. Keep Up to Date Stay ahead with career tips, insider perspectives, and industry-leading insights you can put to use today—all from the people who work here. READ CAREERS BLOG Job Alert Emails Customize your subscription to receive job alerts, the latest news, and insider tips tailored to your preferences. Discover the exciting and rewarding career opportunities that await you at Cisco.
Learn more about Cisco
Size
79,500 employees
Market Cap
$194.5 billion
Industry
Net Income
$10.1 billion
Founded
2014
5 Year Trend
+1.4%
Revenue
$48 billion
NASDAQ

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