Account Executive - Portfolio, Airforce

The application window is expected to close on: 11/11/2026

Candidate must relocate or live in the listed territory

Westcoast

Meet the Team

You will join an elite, mission-driven sales organization within Cisco’s U.S. Federal Defense operation dedicated to empowering the United States Air Force and Space Force. As a Senior Account Executive supporting the US Air Force, you will play a critical role in enabling the mission readiness, secure digital modernization, and warfighter capabilities of our defense customer.

Serving as the Account Orchestrator, you will build and manage multi-year strategic relationships across designated Air Force commands and regional installations (such as Peterson SFB, Schriever SFB, Buckley SFB, Cheyenne Mountain, and the U.S. Air Force Academy). You will partner closely with Portfolio Solutions Engineers, Architecture Specialists, and executive defense leadership to drive sustainable, cross-portfolio growth and align Cisco's industry-leading technology with customer mission imperatives.

What You'll Do

• Enterprise Account Orchestration & Deal Leadership: Orchestrate multi-faceted, highly complex deal cycles ($100K to $30M+) involving multiple stakeholders, defense commands, and program offices to drive impactful revenue growth and mission transformation.
• Air Force Executive & Flag-Level Engagement: Engage with senior military and civilian leaders across the Air Force and Space Force, serving as the primary trusted advisor and commercial influencer in purchasing decisions.
• Cross-Portfolio & Secure Networking Positioning: Drive sustainable cross-portfolio growth with deep expertise in core secure networking (enterprise switching, routing, wireless, and next-generation firewall), while collaborating with specialist teams on advanced security, cloud, and observability architectures.
• Opportunity Qualification, Funnel Velocity & Forecasting: Build a robust sales pipeline through proactive opportunity prospecting; manage opportunities through all deal stages; maintain accurate representation in Cisco CRM; and analyze data to deliver weekly, monthly, and quarterly sales commitments.
• Consultative Deal Structuring & Negotiations: Lead commercial and contract negotiations with a consultative approach, expertly balancing competitive pricing, service level agreements, and multi-year federal contractual commitments (SEWP, GSA, DoD Enterprise Agreements).
• Cross-Functional Teaming & Partner Teaming: Direct and align extended team resources (Portfolio SEs, TSAs, Services, RevOps, Legal, and Finance) and coordinate with defense ecosystem partners to deliver unified customer outcomes.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ to 7+ years of quota-carrying enterprise technology sales, strategic business development, or defense IT account management experience.
• Demonstrated track record of successfully managing complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise sales cycles ($1M+ to $10M+) and achieving annual sales quotas.
• Solid foundational knowledge of enterprise networking and cybersecurity architectures, with specific focus on core secure networking (switching, routing, wireless, and firewall).
• Proven ability to orchestrate cross-functional sales engineering, product specialist, legal, and commercial teams to navigate complex federal procurement cycles.
• U.S. Citizenship required to comply with federal customer site access, background investigation, and security clearance requirements.
• Ability to work in a hybrid, field-based model located in or near Denver, Colorado with travel to regional military installations and partner sites.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (with 5+ years of experience), Master’s degree (with 3+ years of experience), or equivalent practical experience in Business Administration, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
• Extensive experience selling enterprise software, hardware, or cloud solutions directly to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), specifically the U.S. Air Force or U.S. Space Force.
• Active U.S. Government Security Clearance (Secret or Top Secret / SCI).
• Prior military service or experience working within defense acquisition commands (AFMC, AFLCMC, SSC, ACC, AMC, NORAD/USNORTHCOM).
• Familiarity with DoD procurement contract vehicles, Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR/DFARS), and multi-year enterprise software agreements (DoD ESI, 2GIT, NASA SEWP).

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 $259,900.00 to $351,700.00 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:

$292,000.00 - $440,900.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$269,300.00 - $411,100.00

* 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.