Director, People and Communities

Responsibilities

• You will:
• Lead the India People Partner organisation, developing capability, driving operational excellence, and creating a high-performing team that delivers measurable business outcomes.
• Partner with senior business and community leaders to translate business strategy into integrated people strategies that accelerate growth, strengthen organisational capability, and enable transformation.
• Drive a cohesive India-wide talent strategy spanning leadership development, succession planning, workforce planning, organisational effectiveness, talent movement, performance, and employee engagement.
• Champion a consistent approach to people priorities across India while ensuring solutions are appropriately tailored to the unique needs of different business groups.
• Lead the India Inclusion strategy, bringing together initiatives across the business into a unified country agenda that delivers measurable progress in representation, belonging, leadership capability, and inclusive culture.
• Serve as the HR4HR leader for India, providing people leadership within the P&C organisation and strengthening capability, engagement, and leadership across the HR function.
• Act as a strategic change leader, partnering on organisational transformation, business evolution, operating model changes, and cultural initiatives that improve organisational effectiveness.
• Use data, insights, and workforce analytics to identify trends, influence executive decision-making, and measure the impact of people initiatives.
• Partner across the broader P&C ecosystem to ensure enterprise programmes-including talent, rewards, leadership, inclusion, and employee experience-are effectively embedded across India.
• Foster a One P&C culture built on collaboration, inclusion, innovation, and measurable business impact.

Requirements

• 18+ years of progressive HR leadership experience in complex, global organisations.
• Demonstrated success leading strategic HR Business Partner or People Partner functions across multiple businesses or geographies.
• Proven experience developing and executing enterprise people strategies aligned with business priorities, organisational growth, and transformation.
• Experience leading senior HR teams and influencing through matrix leadership.
• Strong track record partnering with executive leadership teams on organisational design, workforce planning, leadership effectiveness, succession planning, and talent strategy.
• Experience leading large-scale organisational change and cultural transformation initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to use people analytics and business insights to influence strategic decisions and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Master's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organisational Psychology, or a related discipline.
• Experience supporting engineering, technology, customer, or sales organisations within a global technology company.
• Experience leading country or regional people strategies across large, complex employee populations.
• Demonstrated leadership of enterprise Inclusion, Diversity, and Belonging strategies with measurable business impact.
• Exceptional executive presence with extensive experience coaching and influencing senior executives.
• Str

Additional Information

Meet the Team The People & Communities (P&C) team partners closely with Cisco's business and community leaders to bring our people strategy to life in ways that scale globally while remaining locally relevant. We act as trusted advisors, coaches, and transformation leaders-connecting business strategy, talent priorities, leadership capability, and employee experience to enable business growth. As Cisco's largest theatre outside of the United States, India represents approximately 17,000 employees and a workforce of nearly 30,000 people across Engineering, Customer Experience, Go-To-Market, and Corporate Functions. This role sits at the centre of that ecosystem, leading the India People Partner organisation and shaping the country people agenda across one of Cisco's most strategically important markets. Working in a highly matrixed, global environment, you'll partner closely with senior business leaders, global P&C leadership, Centres of Excellence, and regional teams to deliver consistent, business-aligned people outcomes while tailoring approaches to the unique needs of diverse businesses and functions. This is an opportunity to influence the future of work, strengthen leadership capability, and shape the employee experience at scale.

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