Leader, Cybersecurity Velocity Sales

We are seeking a dynamic, forward-thinking Cybersecurity Specialist Sales Manager based in Tokyo, Japan to lead, coach, and inspire a high-performing team of Cybersecurity Sales Specialists across Japan and Greater China (GC) within our Velocity (SMB & Mid-Market) organization.

In this role, you will be responsible for driving double-digit growth, accelerating deal velocity, and deepening partner co-sell motions across our core security pillars. You will bridge local market execution in Japan with multi-cultural regional leadership across Greater China and the broader APJC ecosystem.

What You'll Do

1. People Leadership & Team Development

•     Lead & Inspire: Manage and mentor a diverse team of Cybersecurity Sales Specialists across Japan and Greater China, fostering an inclusive, high-performance, and coaching-led sales culture.

•     Forecast Accuracy & Pipeline Hygiene: Oversee weekly pipeline cadence, maintain disciplined forecast predictability and manage non-standard discounting to ensure profitable growth.

2. Drive Market Penetration: Formulate and execute regional go-to-market (GTM) strategies to capture market share across Japan and Greater China's mid-market and SMB customer segments.

3. Partner & Distributor Co-Selling (Ecosystem Acceleration)

•     Channel Collaboration: Partner closely with System Integrators, National Distributors across Japan and Greater China to scale security reach.

4. Cross-Regional & Matrix Collaboration

•     Regional Interlock: Act as a strategic conduit between Japan sales operations, Greater China teams, and APJC regional executive leadership.

•     Voice of the Customer/Partner: Provide structured feedback to Product Management, Marketing, and Technical Solutions Architects on local competitive trends and localized product requirements.

Who You'll Work With

You will report to the Director of APJC Security Velocity Sales and collaborate closely with:

•     Velocity & Commercial Sales Leaders: Aligning security specialist coverage with generalist account managers and virtual sales teams.

•     Cisco Partner Organization (CPO): Driving joint GTM campaigns with regional distributors and channel partners.

•     Systems Engineering & Specialist Architecture Teams: Ensuring robust technical validation and seamless customer proof-of-value (PoV) cycles.

•     APJC and Global Cybersecurity Leadership: Contributing to regional strategy, pricing governance, and product rollout initiatives.

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

•     Experience: 8+ years of successful technology sales experience, with at least 3+ years of direct people management or leadership of a specialist sales or commercial team in the Cybersecurity / SaaS / Networking domain.

•     Market Knowledge: Deep understanding of the Japan or GC cybersecurity market landscape, commercial customer buying behaviors, and compliance frameworks.

•     Language Proficiency:

•     Japanese: Native or bilingual business proficiency (JLPT N1 equivalent or native speaker) with exceptional communication and negotiation skills.

•     English: Professional business fluency (verbal and written) for active collaboration with APJC and global leadership.

Preferred Qualifications & Significant Pluses:

•     Security Acumen: Strong familiarity with modern cybersecurity concepts (SASE, SSE, ZeroTrust, XDR, NGFW, Cloud Security).

•     Greater China / APJC Experience: Prior experience managing sales across Greater China (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China) or multi-country APJC territories.

•     Mandarin Chinese: Professional working proficiency in Mandarin Chinese is highly desirable.

•     Track Record: Proven history of consistently exceeding quota targets in a high-velocity, high-volume transactional or mid-market sales environment.

•     Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience.

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.