Director, Associate General Counsel: Product Legal Greater Durham, NC Area

The application window is expected to close on: 11/19/2026

Members of the Legal organization at select locations will generally be expected to follow a hybrid work model, which includes two days of in-office attendance each week, with limited exceptions.

Meet the Team

Cisco Legal’s Product Legal organization provides strategic, business-focused counsel across Cisco’s product development and go-to-market activities. We partner closely with product, engineering, marketing, finance, operations, sales, and executive leadership to advance innovation, manage risk, and help bring trusted technology solutions to customers worldwide.

Cisco's Security Business Group builds market-leading software, hardware, and SaaS solutions spanning network security, zero-trust identity, cloud and application protection, and sophisticated threat detection (XDR and Talos) to secure enterprise digital transformations globally.

Your Impact

We are seeking a strategic and technology-focused attorney to serve as Director, Associate General Counsel for Cisco’s Security Business Group (SBG). Reporting to the Sr. Director, Associate General Counsel for Cisco’s Security, Observability and Data Platform organization, you will lead the legal professionals delivering elite, front-line counseling across the full breadth of product development and go-to-market activities for the dynamic business units comprising SBG.

You will serve as the principal Product Legal partner to the leader of the Security Business Group. You will build trusted relationships with senior executives and cross-functional partners, translate complex legal issues into practical business guidance, and lead your team through a dynamic period of innovation, growth, and organizational integration.

Lead, develop, and inspire the legal teams supporting the SBG units, establishing clear priorities and delivering coordinated, high-quality legal support across the organization.

Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to senior business leaders on product development, technology strategy, go-to-market models, regulatory requirements, intellectual property, commercial matters, and other significant legal and business risks.

Guide legal support for SBG products and services throughout their lifecycles, including compose and development, product readiness, launch, commercialization, integration, and compliance.

Develop scalable legal strategies and operating models that enable innovation and growth while effectively handling risk across sophisticated security software, cloud, data, AI, and platform offerings.

Collaborate proactively across Product Legal and with Legal subject-matter guides and cross-functional partners, including product management, engineering, sales, marketing, finance, operations, privacy, security, regulatory, AI governance, competition, intellectual property, and corporate development teams.

Minimum Qualifications

Juris Doctor or equivalent law degree and active bar membership in good standing in at least one jurisdiction.

10-12+ years of relevant legal experience at a law firm and/or in-house legal department, including meaningful experience advising enterprise technology, software, cloud services, cybersecurity, or observability businesses.

5+ years of experience leading attorneys and other legal professionals, including responsibility for team development, performance management, prioritization, and delivery of legal services across a sophisticated organization.

Demonstrated experience advising senior executives on sophisticated product development and go-to-market matters involving intellectual property, licensing, data, privacy, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, regulatory requirements, and technology transactions.

Experience leading legal support for global product portfolios or business units, including the ability to assess sophisticated legal and business risks and provide practical, business-focused mentorship.

Preferred Qualifications

Deep knowledge of enterprise security, cybersecurity, SaaS or platform technologies and their associated business models and regulatory environments.

Experience serving as the legal advisor to senior executives and participating in business leadership teams within a large, global technology company.

Consistent track record to lead through transformation, business integration, and evolving product and go-to-market strategies.

Strong people leadership skills, with a record of building inclusive, high-performing teams and developing legal professionals

Outstanding judgment, executive presence, collaboration, intellectual curiosity, modesty, and a solutions-oriented approach to sophisticated challenges.

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.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $239,700.00 to $303,800.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, 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

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

.75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;

1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;

1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and

Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$285,500.00 - $420,700.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$256,800.00 - $374,400.00

• For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.