Leader, Strategic Partners

**What You'll Do**

We are seeking a visionary and influential individual to strategically drive growth with Cisco's Regional Strategic Partners in the APJC. The primary responsibility of the Leader is to work with the partners to jointly grow the business focused on Cisco’s Solutions & Strategic pillars. Growing the business in a sustainable, profitable manner. This is a critical role in Cisco’s APJC Partners Sales team that requires a collaborative leader having a strategic mindset with an appetite for execution and growth.

The APJC Strategic Partner leader will build awareness of the competitive landscape and educate our key Partners on strategies to position their Cisco based solutions for success against present and emerging competitors. Our most profitable partners sell complete business solutions to drive key business outcomes for our customers. The leader here, will identify market trends and develop strategic plans with our partner leaders for success. The leader should be creative with social skills who can work cross-functionally within Cisco to develop ideas, share standard methodologies and execute strong business plans for growth

**As a Leader, you will**:

- Lead a team of Partner Account Managers and Business Development managers and such, who manage partners including (though not restricted to); WWT, IBM, Kyndryl, OBS, HCL, Wipro, NTT (at region level); TCS, TCL, among others
- Work together with the assigned Partners to develop business plans that bring incremental revenue to Cisco and to the Partners in strategic focus areas.
- Develop and execute joint investment funds to grow business in strategic areas.
- Build awareness of the competitive landscape and educate our key Partners on strategies to position their Cisco based solutions for success against present and emerging competitors.
- Establish a strong network within the partner and act as a **trusted advisor and problem solver** to resolve various day to day challenges.
- Report on partners performance in various business reviews and forums, providing insights and **driving actions** to grow the partnership.
- Work with Cisco’s different functions to ensure maximised value exchange across the different partnerships

**Who You'll Work With**

The Leader will work across the company (cross functionally and also across different levels at the theatre, Region and Global (GPRS/BE/others) ) to ensure alignment and consistency with their Partners’ efforts. You will also work closely with the Cisco field sales leaders and teams to understand their business and better align to the local business environment. You will be a part of the best sales team in the industry.

**Who You Are**

**You are a seasoned leader with**:

- 15+ years of experience working with Partners in the Technology Industry and having a Sales/ Business development mind set
- 5+ years of experience leading a team
- Existing relationships with CXOs at key Strategic Partners of Cisco, in the region
- A shown ability to think strategically about business, product, and technical challenges, as well as the ability to build and convey compelling value propositions for Partners
- You possess a business understanding in Cloud technologies, Software sales, Managed Services and different partner business models
- A shown ability to think strategically about business, product, and technical challenges, as well as the ability to build and convey compelling value propositions for Partners
- A good understanding of key market/business trends, key customer (evolving) needs, key partner (evolving) needs, Cisco’s business transformation, strategy and growth pillars, key competitor threats among others
- The required skills to develop a Business Plan that combines the Partner's key initiatives and Cisco's priorities for mutual success in the marketplace
- Experience in managing relationships at a senior/executive level
- Experience in leading a team of direct and indirect reports
- Strong communication and listening skills
- Strong negotiation skills and the ability to work under pressure
- A flexible personality to work within a geographically distributed and matrix environment
- You can develop and clearly articulate objectives using both analytical thinking, reference to facts and standard methodologies
- You have passion, energy, excitement and intensity to represent the best channel partners internally

**Why Cisco**
WeAreCisco, where each person is unique, but we bring our talents to work as a team and make a difference powering an inclusive future for all.
We embrace digital, and help our customers implement change in their digital businesses. Some may think we're "old" (36 years strong) and only about hardware, but we're also a software company. And a security company. We even invented an intuitive network that adapts, predicts, learns and protects. No other company can do what we do - you can't put us in a box
But "Digital Transformation" is an empty buzz phrase withou