Finance Manager - CX Engineering

Meet the Team

Cisco Customer Experience (CX) is focused on accelerating customer success through innovative technology, support, and services. Within CX, the Finance team serves as a strategic partner to the business, helping leaders understand financial performance, evaluate investments, handle resources, and make informed decisions.

This role will support CX Engineering and join a highly collaborative finance team that values ownership, partnership, and collaboration. We operate with a shared-accountability mentality: we support one another, step in when needed, solve problems together, and focus on getting to the right outcome. We are looking for someone who brings that same level of engagement and commitment to the team!

Your Impact

The Finance Manager will serve as a key FP&A and business partner to CX Engineering leadership, with end-to-end ownership of financial planning and forecasting for assigned VP organizations.

Success in this role requires more than handling the numbers. The Finance Manager will be expected to build strong relationships with business partners, develop a deep understanding of the organizations they support, and use that business knowledge to develop accurate forecasts, identify risks and opportunities, and provide relevant financial insights.

The role combines high-level executive reporting and presentations with detailed financial analysis and forecasting. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable presenting a financial story to senior leadership and working through detailed Excel models to understand the underlying drivers of the forecast.

This is a highly hands-on role requiring strong FP&A fundamentals, advanced Excel capabilities, attention to detail, business partnership skills, and a high degree of ownership.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end forecast for assigned CX Engineering VP organizations, including headcount, operating expenses, software, and other key cost drivers.
• Lead monthly and quarterly forecasting activities, ensuring forecasts reflect both financial results and current business expectations.
• Develop strong relationships with Engineering leaders and business partners to understand organizational priorities, operational changes, investment decisions, and risks that may impact the financial outlook.
• Combine financial data with business knowledge to develop accurate forecasts and provide a clear understanding of what changed, why it changed, and what it means for the business.
• Perform detailed variance analysis across actuals, forecast, and plan, identifying key drivers, risks, opportunities, and required actions.
• Prepare executive-level reporting, financial summaries, presentations, and business review materials that clearly communicate financial performance and outlook.
• Translate complex financial data and detailed analysis into concise, actionable insights for senior leadership.
• Own and support recurring reporting requirements related to headcount, software, operating expenses, and other CX Engineering investments.
• Build and maintain detailed Excel-based financial models and analyses to support forecasting, resource planning, investment decisions, and scenario analysis.
• Partner with accounting and operational stakeholders during month-end and quarter-end close to ensure financial results are accurate and appropriately reflected in the forecast.
• Proactively identify forecast risks, emerging trends, and opportunities and communicate them early to finance and business leadership.
• Support ad hoc financial analysis and strategic decision-making across CX Engineering.
• Drive simplification and continuous improvement across forecasting, reporting, and financial processes.
• Leverage automation, AI, and analytical tools to improve efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.
• Collaborate across the broader Finance team, sharing knowledge, supporting team priorities, and stepping in when needed to ensure successful outcomes.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in FP&A, corporate finance, financial analysis, or a related finance role in a large company.
• Strong understanding of core FP&A processes, including budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, financial reporting, and business decision support.
• Demonstrated experience owning financial forecasts and partnering directly with business leaders.
• Advanced Excel skills and significant experience developing and leading detailed financial models and analyses.
• Experience preparing and presenting financial information to senior leaders.
• Experience with enterprise financial systems such as SAP, Oracle, Hyperion, Anaplan, or similar tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting Engineering, Technology, SaaS, Cloud, Customer Experience, or similar organizations.
• Experience supporting headcount-intensive organizations and workforce planning.
• Experience leading or forecasting software and technology-related operating expenses.
• Experience working within a large, global or multinational organization.
• Experience developing financial models, dashboards, and automated reporting solutions.
• Experience using AI or automation tools to simplify financial processes and improve productivity.
• Continuous improvement mentality with a proven interest in improving how finance operates.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to move comfortably between detailed financial data and higher-level business insights.
• Ability to develop a deep understanding of the business and incorporate operational knowledge into financial forecasts and recommendations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly communicate financial concepts to both finance and non-finance audiences.
• Highly engaged, collaborative, and team-oriented working style.
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability with the ability to independently drive work from beginning to end.
• Strong attention to detail while maintaining an understanding of the broader business and financial picture.
• Ability to run multiple priorities and operate optimally in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

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.