Functional Safety Technical Leader (Hybrid)

The application window is expected to close on: 12/01/2026This is a hybrid role with two days per week at the Austin officeMeet the Team

The Cisco Common Hardware Group (CHG) is growing its next-generation power engineering team. You'll join industry-leading innovators in the field of Fault Managed Power (FMP) to redefine how DC power is distributed in buildings and datacenters in the AI era. We firmly believe that efficiency, reliability, and above all, safety is the cornerstone of power delivery systems. Because full product development—from design to qualification to production—is within our team, we’re able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly. Join us to power the future of the digital world.

Your Impact

• Lead Cisco's development of functional safety processes, from early architecture through certification and production release.
• Develop and execute a functional safety management plan to ensure compliance with functional safety requirements applicable to our hardware platform.
• Partner with hardware, embedded, software, mechanical, thermal, and test engineering teams, as well as supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and customer support teams to ensure success.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering and 8+ years of experience, or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering and 6+ years of experience, or PhD in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering + 3 years in system level development.
• Experience leading functional safety planning and execution for hardware, semiconductor, embedded, power, or similar safety-critical systems.
• Experience developing and executing functional safety management plans.
• Experience applying safety analysis methods such as FMEA, FMEDA, FTA, DFA, HARA, dependent failure analysis, fault injection planning, or reliability assessment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with the IEC 61508 functional safety standard or related performance-based functional safety standards such as ISO 26262
• Experience defining or reviewing safety mechanisms for fault detection, diagnostics, fault isolation, redundancy, safe-state behavior, or hardware-software interfaces.
• Proven experience guiding engineering teams through reviews, work-product closure, supplier evidence reviews, audits, assessments, or certification activities.
• Familiarity with high-reliability power distribution, Power over Ethernet (PoE), datacenter-scale HVDC power systems, or networking hardware.
• Familiarity with the IEC 62368 or UL 1400-1 product safety standards.

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 $139,200.00 to $201,400.00 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:

$171,600.00 - $281,800.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$151,300.00 - $250,900.00

* 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.