Director (AI Infrastructure Program)

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  • Location:
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  • Alternate Location
    Abu Dhabi
  • Area of Interest
    Engineer - Pre Sales and Product Management
  • Job Type
    Professional
  • Technology Interest
    AI or Artificial Intelligence
  • Job Id
    1445900
Please note this posting is to advertise potential job opportunities. This exact role may not be open today, but could open in the near future. When you apply, a Cisco representative may contact you directly if a relevant position opens.

Job Summary: Cisco is seeking a highly skilled and dedicated Director to lead a critical AI infrastructure program within the Middle East, such as our partnerships with G42, or UAE Stargate. This role will be an integral part of the AI Infrastructure team, responsible for driving Cisco’s product solutions, running the day-to-day relationship, and supervising all technical and operational aspects of a specific, high-profile AI project. The ideal candidate will possess a strong technical background in hyperscale environments and AI workloads, coupled with validated experience navigating and succeeding within the local business and cultural landscape of the Middle East. 

Key Responsibilities:

  • Product Solution & Portfolio Leadership: Drive the adoption and integration of Cisco’s comprehensive product portfolio (hardware, software, and services) to meet the unique technical and operational demands of AI infrastructure within sovereign cloud environments. This includes understanding and influencing product roadmaps across various organizations such as AI networking, AI compute, Optics, CHG (Common Hardware Group), Security, and more.
  • Technical & Operational Expertise: Apply deep technical and operational understanding of hyperscale cloud environments, AI infrastructure, and sophisticated networking to the program. This includes:
  • Understanding AI workload requirements, including GPU consumption and the shift from InfiniBand (IB) to Ethernet Back-End (BE) networks.
  • Ability to document and analyze the customer's network architecture (Front-End, Back-End, Backbone) and identify Cisco's positioning and opportunities.
  • Awareness of driven solutions and the ability to articulate Cisco's value proposition within the program context.
  • Program Leadership & Execution: Lead the successful planning, execution, and delivery of a designated strategic AI infrastructure program (e.g., G42, or UAE Stargate), ensuring alignment with customer requirements and Cisco's strategic objectives.
  • Customer Relationship Management: Serve as the main point of contact for the assigned customer program, building and maintaining strong, trusted relationships with key technical and operational customers. Understand their evolving needs and translate them into actionable plans for Cisco.
  • Multi-functional Coordination: Facilitate seamless teamwork across various Cisco internal teams, including engineering, sales, product management, and services, to ensure timely and effective delivery of solutions for the assigned program. Create vital forums for opportunity identification and issue resolution.
  • Opportunity & Prioritization: Identify and assess new opportunities within the assigned program, bringing together both successes and lessons learned from any lost opportunities. Prioritize program activities and technical requirements to increase impact and strategic imperative.
  • Communication & Influence: Effectively communicate complex technical and program-related information to both technical and non-technical audiences, influencing decisions and driving consensus within the program.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Senior Product Leadership: 10+ years of dynamic experience in program management, technical sales, solutions architecture, or product management within the networking, ASIC, or network software domains, with a consistent track record of leading large-scale, complex technology programs.
  • In-Region Expertise: Demonstrated experience working within the Middle East region, with a strong understanding of local business practices, cultural nuances, and regulatory environments.
  • Deep Technical Competence: Extensive technical and operational understanding of hyperscale cloud environments, AI infrastructure, and data center networking, including:
  • Experience with network/ASIC product management and/or network software product management.
  • Validated knowledge of the shift to Ethernet Back-End networks and GPU-centric architectures for AI workloads.
  • Ability to analyze and understand sophisticated network topologies (FE, BE, BB).
  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in engineering, computer Science, or related technical field.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Customer Engagement: Excellent customer-facing skills, including presentation abilities and a strong focus on building and maintaining relationships with key customer partners.
  • Multi-functional Collaboration: Validated ability to coordinate and drive efforts across diverse internal teams within a large, matrixed organization to achieve program objectives.
  • Problem-Solving: Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
  • Communication & Influence: Superior communication, presentation, and influencing skills, capable of engaging effectively with technical leaders and senior management.
  • Operational Rigor: Experience with project management methodologies and tools (e.g., JIRA) to track and run program progress effectively.
  • Cisco Internal Knowledge: Familiarity with Cisco's internal development methodologies and NPI (New Product Introduction) lifecycle.
  • Master's degree or equivalent experience

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. Simply put – we power the future. 

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:

When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees have access to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.

Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days of vacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco’s flexible Vacation Time Off policy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco’s Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter.  Up to 80 hours of unused sick time will be carried forward from one calendar year to the next such that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is 160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. 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 up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

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