Specific Responsibilities

Senior Technical Talent Communications Manager
Core Discipline: Internal Communications
Sub-Discipline: Program Management

Position Description:
•Responsible for evangelizing and driving internal and external visibility about the accomplishments and innovations of Cisco’s Senior Technical Talent: Fellows, Distinguished Engineers (DE) and Professional Engineers (PE).
•Develops and implements the strategic communication plan for Cisco’s Standards program.
•Partner with:
oExecutive leaders responsible for the DE/Fellow and Standards programs.
oCorporate Communications teams (CEC editorial team, News@Cisco, PR) to execute on integrated communication plans.
oLDSG for Engineering CLN team to leverage Senior Technical Talent individuals within CLN events and course learning classes.
oEngineering I&D to align and coordinate communications about Cisco Innovation and engagement with Senior Technical Talent as spokespersons
oEngineering Organization Communications to align messaging and execution related to “Innovation” and engagement with Senior Technical Talent in internal Engineering communications.

This includes the following deliverables and activities.
•Define, document and implement the STT Communications Program charter including business objectives, strategy, roadmap of milestones and success metrics.
•Define and execute an annual integrated communication plan that 1) drives internal and external awareness of Cisco’s Fellows and DEs; and 2) fosters internal communication & collaboration on Fellow and DE led projects.
•Define and execute and annual integrated communication that drives internal awareness and collaboration around Cisco’s leadership and engagement in industry standards bodies (need to be specific on which ones.)
•Research and write editorial stories about industry leading accomplishments of Cisco’s Fellow and DE for Engineering News, CEC and external distribution.
•Serve as presentation & communications consultant to DE or Fellows for external keynote, industry speaking event, Media engagement or publicity activity.
•Update and maintain online content (CEC and IWE) about Cisco’s Fellows, DEs and PEs and the outcome of quarterly meetings for the knowledge of the larger Engineering population.
•Represent Engineering Communications and serve on the Pioneer Awards committee to with goal of driving internal awareness of the nomination process, finalist and award announcements and awards ceremony celebration.
•Define and govern key communication channels to reach the STT audience (email, vmail, CEC, IWE, meetings, etc.)
•Measurement of communication activity effectiveness.

Essential Role Responsibilities and Competencies

Develop, manage, and implement integrated and relevant communications strategies for the Senior Technical Talent and Standards programs.
•Develops, implements and evaluates communications strategy
•Manages large-scale projects and resolves complex issues in creative and effective ways
•Networks with key contacts outside own area of expertise
•Takes global needs and issues into consideration in the design and implementation of communication strategy
•Is a primary interface to SVPs, VPs, Fellows, etc. on key communication activities.
•Has expert knowledge of audience needs and impacts to drive timely, relevant messages for each audience
•Can communicate Cisco’s products, technologies, services and solutions make the customer more efficient and how they are differentiated against the competition. Can discus and position Cisco against competition and their relationship to industry standards.

Stakeholder management & alignment across Engineering, Corporate Comms and LDSG.
•Develops relationships with cross-functional senior leadership
•Owns relationships to enable collaboration within team and across organizations: Engineering leadership, Engineering I&D, Engineering Communications, LDSG/CLN for Engineering and Corporate Communications.
•Meets with stakeholders to gather and understand business requirements and manage expectations throughout project life cycle; documents business case and business requirements.
•Develops effective working relationships by understanding customer/partner needs
•Influences clients and stakeholders on strategic messaging
•Makes recommendations on tactics and strategy
•Plays partner role to Executive communication manager to create “one voice" across the organization
•Demonstrates expert understanding of organization priorities, Cisco's priorities and role of organization, program or initiative to Support the organization's value proposition

Coordinate and measure communication strategy and delivery across multiple vehicles and organizations.

•Identifies and leverages most effective vehicles to communicate messaging to appropriate audience
•Creates and customizes messaging for segmented audiences
•Develops detailed plans for implementing communication strategy across various internal communication vehicles
•Proactively provides measurement and results to clients on communications programs and uses metrics to inform future communications projects/needs

Experience
7+ years in ICT industry in product marketing, technical Marketing roles, corporate communications or equivalent experience
IT/Network administrator experience preferred

Education:
B.S / B.A. in communications,Journalism, Marketing or business
Cisco Certification preferred (CCNP, CCNA)

Skills
The usual suspects: Microsoft Office expert
Programming (any language) preferred

Knowledge, Experience and Skills

Experienced - Manager