PR Manager, Brand Sponsorships

Responsibilities

• Strategic Storytelling & Discovery: Develop and own communication strategies for Cisco’s key brand and sponsorship portfolio. Translate brand priorities into compelling narratives for our audiences. Identify opportunities to position our partnerships and customers as core to Cisco’s value proposition, while also uncovering "white-space" storytelling opportunities that amplify our brand presence.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Management: Serve as a primary communications partner to the global Brand and Sponsorship teams. Provide strategic counsel to senior leadership on reputation, messaging, and stakeholder engagement. Build and nurture strong, long-term relationships with Cisco’s customers and internal business partners to ensure alignment on brand vision.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner effectively across the wider marketing and communications organization to ensure brand consistency and drive high-impact, integrated campaigns. You will play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between marketing and public relations to tell larger, more impactful stories that elevate Cisco’s global reputation.
• Media Relations: Proactively build and nurture relationships with top-tier business, lifestyle, sports, and entertainment media. Pitch stories with conviction to secure high-impact coverage that expands our reach beyond traditional tech audiences, driving message pull-through for our global partnership initiatives.
• Campaign Management: Lead end-to-end campaign execution for brand-led initiatives and sponsorships. Manage timelines, agency partners, and multi-channel delivery, ensuring editorial rigor and adherence to Cisco’s brand standards and partnerships standards. Influence global communication strategies by surfacing market trends and advocating for underrepresented priorities across the communications organization.
• Strategic Counsel: Serve as a trusted advisor to product marketing and executive leadership. Bring external market perspective—including media sentiment, competitive moves, and industry trends—into internal decision-making processes to proactively mitigate reputational risks.

Requirements

• 8-10+ years of experience in public relations, communications, or brand management.
• Proven track record of managing high-profile brand partnerships, sponsorships, or large-scale integrated marketing/PR programs.
• Strong strategic counsel skills; ability to advise senior leaders on reputation management and stakeholder engagement.
• Deep expertise in crafting compelling narratives for diverse audiences, with a portfolio of blogs, press releases, and thought leadership content.
• Experience managing complex agency relationships and project timelines with a focus on measurable outcomes.
• Ability to work cross-functional in a matrixed environment, navigating competing stakeholder priorities to drive cohesive, high-impact outcomes.

Preferred

• Experience in sports or entertainment marketing and its intersection with corporate reputation.
• Background in identifying and managing crisis and issues-based communications to protect brand equity.
• Strong understanding of current PR measurement tools and the ability to influence global strategies through data-driven insights.

Benefits

• For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses 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
• Employees on Sales Plans earn incentive pay on top of base salary as described in the policy