Account Executive - AI Defense
Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Ideal candidate will be located in Raleigh; Denver or Chicago, however; will also consider candidates in the Remote US
Who We Are
At Cisco AI Defense, we are at the forefront of the next cybersecurity revolution. As part of Cisco’s global mission to connect and protect, our team is dedicated to building the intelligent, automated infrastructure vital to secure an increasingly sophisticated digital world. We believe that innovation is not just about keeping pace with change—it is about anticipating the threats of tomorrow and neutralizing them today. We are a team of bold and relentless problem-solvers who accept the challenge of securing the AI era, working at the intersection of industry-leading networking and innovative machine learning.
What We Do
We empower organizations to thrive in a world of unprecedented digital risk. Our focus is on delivering AI-driven defense solutions that transform how security teams detect, analyze, and respond to sophisticated cyber threats. By maximising the massive scale of Cisco’s data intelligence and the precision of advanced AI, we provide our customers with proactive visibility and autonomous protection that scales effortlessly. As an Account Executive, you will be the link between our groundbreaking technology and the enterprises that rely on us to safeguard their future. You will help our partners navigate the evolving threat landscape, translating complex security challenges into resilient, AI-powered strategies that ensure their business continuity and peace of mind.
Meet The Team
The Cisco AI Defense team serves as a specialized group of trusted advisors, bridging the gap between latest AI innovation and robust enterprise security. By collaborating directly with CISOs, CTOs, and AI/ML leadership, we empower organizations to navigate the complexities of the AI threat landscape with confidence.
We bring deep technical proficiency in adversarial AI mitigation, secure model deployment, and AI-driven security architectures. We combine intelligence on emerging threats with a rigorous understanding of industry governance and compliance, ensuring that our customers' AI pipelines remain resilient against evolving risks.
Our solutions lead the full AI security lifecycle—from identifying critical vulnerabilities and conducting high-scale adversarial testing to delivering comprehensive defensive strategies. Beyond customer engagement, we act as a vital feedback loop to Cisco’s product development teams. By sharing real-world insights from the front lines, we directly influence product roadmaps, ensuring that Cisco’s solutions remain adaptive, innovative, and perfectly aligned with the security needs of our customers.
What You'll Do
As an Account Executive in Cisco's AI Defense initiative, you will serve as the primary architect of our customers' security transformation, turning complex challenges into resilient, business-enabling strategies. This will include:
Strategic Advisory & C-Suite Engagement:
• Being a Trusted Advisor: Cultivate executive-level relationships, positioning Cisco as the definitive partner for secure AI transformation by providing industry-leading insights into AI-specific risks.
• Architecting Resilience: Steer customer perspectives toward cohesive, cross-architectural AI security frameworks that integrate seamlessly with existing cybersecurity and data governance standards.
• Industry Authority: Establish yourself as an inspiring leader, leveraging deep expertise in adversarial AI, model-poisoning threats, and emerging compliance needs to shape long-term account strategies.
Driving Impact & Innovation
• Deal Evolution: Influence Cisco's most significant AI security engagements by developing pipeline, participating in complex negotiations, developing technical proposals for resilient AI infrastructure, driving deal execution, and client acquisition.
• Product Evolution: Act as the voice of the customer to our Engineering teams. Your sustained feedback will directly influence product roadmaps, ensuring our offerings remain ahead of adversarial tactics and market shifts.
• Market Strategy: Synthesize competitive intelligence to refine our Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies, aligning resource allocation with revenue objectives to maximize our defensive impact.
Operational Excellence
• Scenario Planning: Lead threat-modeling narratives and long-range security forecasting, overseeing the development of security-focused bills of materials to ensure comprehensive protection.
• Cross-Architectural Collaboration: Work as a hyper specialist across Cisco's broader portfolio to integrate AI security into the fabric of our enterprise solutions, amplifying account team effectiveness and driving our customers' strategic ambitions regarding AI safety.
Minimum Qualifications
• 12+ years of overall sales experience, with at least 3+ years dedicated to selling security solutions.
• Experience in selling network security solutions (e.g., Intrusion Detection, Firewall, VPN) or SaaS security offerings.
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience leading large deals and executing account and partner plans across geographic territories.
• Consistent track record of exceeding sales targets.
• Capable of building and implementing an account plan that incorporates a total systems-based security approach.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the AI Security Market.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills.
• Experience in applying solution-selling methodologies to drive corporate revenue growth, with a history of closing both tactical and strategic opportunities. Experience with MEDDPICC is a plus.
• Bachelor’s or master’s Degree
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 $257,600.00 to $344,800.00 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:
$287,300.00 - $423,200.00Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$263,500.00 - $404,100.00* 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.
Sales pay context
Based on 5,409 disclosed Sales salaries on RoleSuite, the role pays a median of $117K/year, with most offers between $81K and $172K (10th–90th percentile: $65K–$238K).
This posting lists $258K–$345K, above the $117K market median.
See the full Sales salary breakdown →