Or better. Turn the perception of being a cost center into being a producer.
Most managers wouldn't dare tuch you so long as you say for every dollar put into the department, we save the business x dollars. You could even argue the margins too.
A similar tack is to get yourself perceived as an incremental value adder, as opposed someone filling a role.
For example, IT is generally seen as filling a set of necessary roles where each person is more or less interchangeable. Sales is generally seen as incremental value adds, and sales people get paid accordingly.
So how can you get seen as an incremental value adder if you're working in IT? Simple: start projects and clearly explain the impact to the bottom line. If you show the executives that you've saved the company $2MM/year forever, and that project wouldn't have happened if you hadn't dreamed it up, that's going to get recognized. Even at large, highly bureaucratic companies.
Most managers wouldn't dare tuch you so long as you say for every dollar put into the department, we save the business x dollars. You could even argue the margins too.