Strategic Pursuit Lead

Role Overview

The Strategic Pursuit Lead for Service Provider (SP) Business, India, will be responsible for leading complex, strategic sales pursuits in the SP India market. Partner with clients on long-term initiatives, delivering comprehensive software, product, and professional service solutions that drive significant transformation.

This role focuses on leading the pursuit team, working closely with account teams, product, software and services sales specialists, sales leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders to pursue large, transformational opportunities from qualification through closure. Because this role engages with SP India, the largest Service Provider customers, intimate knowledge of Service Providers, technologies and industry dynamics are preferred.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Pursuit Execution

• Lead end-to-end pursuit activities for complex strategic deals in <SP Theatre>. Strategic deals include large, multi-year, transformational, product, software & professional services sales.
• Contribute to sales strategy, including qualification, solutioning, and execution
• Apply established governance and qualification frameworks to ensure focused execution

2. Executive & Customer Engagement

• Engagement with senior customer executives in collaboration with account teams
• Articulate Cisco’s value proposition through commercial and technical proposals
• Align internal stakeholders around customer priorities, risks, and decision timelines

3. Business Value & Commercial Support

• Lead business value creation, including ROI/TCO considerations and customer success metrics
• Partner with Finance and Specialist Sales teams on commercial structures and economics
• Ensure proposed technical and commercial solutions align with customer business objectives

4. Cross-Functional Sales Orchestration

• Partner with Sales, Product, Services, Finance, Legal, and Partner teams to align stakeholders and drive shared objectives.
• Lead project cadences, supervise key milestones, and proactively resolve challenges to ensure initiatives remain on track from qualification to successful delivery.
• Share actionable insights on opportunity engagement and competitive strategies to elevate collective performance and team success.

5. Market & Competitive Awareness

• Awareness of specific market dynamics, competitors, and regulatory considerations
• Lead pursuit strategy

6. Contributing to Regional Pursuit Excellence

• Foster a culture of excellence by actively sharing proven methodologies and successful frameworks across the broader Service Provider community.
• Facilitate the exchange of insights, lessons learned, and effective commercial strategies to elevate collective team performance.
• Provide actionable insights into pipeline trends to inform strategic decision-making and drive sustainable business growth.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bring 10+ years of experience in the Service Provider sector, with a proven track record in strategic consulting and leading complex, large-scale pursuits.
• Orchestrate multi-year engagements by integrating our full portfolio—including software, hardware, and professional services—to deliver meaningful client impact.
• Apply your deep understanding of value-based selling to design and negotiate commercial structures, enterprise agreements, and buying programs that align with client objectives.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with executive customers through clear, compelling communication and a collaborative, consultative approach.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep background in Service Provider networking, Data Center, and Security architectures.
•  A proven track record of leading digital transformation initiatives that help clients evolve.
• Experience navigating complex, large-scale sales cycles within the Service Provider sector.

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.