Account Executive - Architecture

Meet The Team

Owns relationships and influences strategic decisions within the customer’s buying center. Works with and supports account teams and customers to understand customer needs and position Cisco’s area of specialization. Applies deep architectural expertise and broad solution knowledge, enriched by competitor intelligence and industry insight. Maintains expert-level knowledge of all elements of the business case, including the drivers of cost, benefit, risk. Provides architectural expertise across opportunities without direct ownership; maintains architectural-specific forecasting while triangulating technical projections with broader portfolio planning to ensure alignment. Leads technical proof of concept and proof of value engagements, implementing scaled demonstration environments to showcase solution capabilities and business outcomes prior to customer commitment. Develops comprehensive proposals highlighting Cisco offerings that address solution gaps and aligns with customer objectives. Works closely with solution engineers, account teams and customers to set the direction and strategy for specific focus areas / architecture. Provides valuable feedback from customer interactions to Cisco’s development teams, influencing product roadmaps and ensuring solutions are adaptive to emerging market demands and technological advancements

• Specialization and Focus - Aligned by specific Cisco architecture and/or industry focus, Expert with deep technical and product knowledge in a specific area of specialization, Deep understanding of relevant vertical or industry,, Predominantly interacts at direct customer-level

• Customer Engagement and Accountability - Mostly in direct contact with customer and interacts with IT, LOB, CXOs, & decision makers, Primary influencers, specifically in Qualify and Proposal phases, May participate across full life-cycle

• The Internal Sales Process - 10-25% of time may be spent with internal business units (more require more time for larger deals)

• Typical Sales Cycle - Medium Sales complexity. Average length of deal is 3-6 months but can be as long as 12-18 months in more complex accounts/opportunities. Variable deal size, can be between $50K to $750K (over $1M for SP)

• Success Measures - Increased revenue for architecture - Displace competitor and increase wallet share, increased market share - Customer relationship development

Your Impact

• Leverages advanced market and technology knowledge to identify strategic collaboration business potentials in Hong Kong 

• Contributes to complex deal cycles with substantial business contributions and technology knowledge 

• Educating customers on Cisco most advanced collaboration solutions like Webex Suite, contact center, intelligent workplace solutions etc. 

• Develops and refines comprehensive competitor profiles utilizing internal databases, market research, and customer insights

• Facilitates discussions with portfolio teams and other cross-functional teams to dissect competitors' strategies, advancements, and market positioning

• Leads technical solutions discussions with key decision makers and demonstrate how Cisco solutions drive growth and support customer outcomes

• Incorporates competitive intelligence into integrated account plans, ensuring they are relevant and competitive

• Leads detailed discovery and consultative discussions with customers, integrating insights from Cisco’s various architectural domains to craft comprehensive, tailored solutions

• Collaborates closely with internal stakeholders to develop a targeted, technical point of view on Cisco solutions and Cisco’s position as a strategic partner

• Ensures all customer facing materials incorporate competitive intelligence, highlighting unique capabilities and forward-looking innovations aimed at driving customer success

• Sets the direction and architectural strategy to shape account team business cases and drive account team alignment to minimize adoption barriers and de-risk renewals

• Conducts forecasting for future business and leads the development of bill of materials for technical proposals

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or

Masters + 4 years of related experience, or

Preferred Qualifications:

The candidate should have deep industry experience and connection in collaboration market 

The candidate is expected to have advanced certifications or specialized technical skill in Unified Communication/collaboration domain. 

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.