Software Engineering Lead, AI & Agentic AI
Meet the Team
Our team builds and runs the cloud-native services and AI capabilities that Cisco engineers, customers, and the wider developer community depend on every day. We take generative and agentic AI out of the demo stage and put it into production, where reliability and security actually matter. The team is a hands-on group of senior engineers who sit close to architects, product, and security, and who stay with their code from first commit through live operations. Nobody here hands work over a wall, and the person who builds a service is the person who keeps it healthy. Agentic AI is changing how software gets built, and this team is where those changes become real for Cisco.
Your Impact
Build and operate secure, scalable microservice applications on AWS and Kubernetes, owning reliability and observability so that customers experience a platform that stays up under load. Develop and integrate AI and agentic capabilities, including LLM integration, retrieval augmented generation, tool and function calling, and agentic workflows, so that emerging technology reaches users as working product. Apply a security-first approach across development, deployment, and operations, covering application, API, container, identity, and data security, because autonomy raises the cost of any gap. Automate testing, delivery, and monitoring through modern DevSecOps practice, and troubleshoot complex production issues through to resolution rather than handoff. Success in this role looks like services you built running reliably in production, AI features customers actually use, and engineering practices that improve because you contributed to them.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelors + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years of related of related experience, or equivalent related work experience.
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience delivering production applications in one or more of Python, Java, Go, JavaScript/TypeScript, or C++.
- 3+ years of experience developing and operating microservices, REST APIs, or distributed applications on a public cloud platform such as AWS.
- 2+ years of experience deploying and operating containerized applications in Kubernetes in a production environment.
- 1+ years of hands-on experience building applications with generative AI or large language models, including work with retrieval augmented generation, embeddings, or tool and function calling.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
- Experience developing or integrating AI agents and agentic workflows in an enterprise setting.
- Hands-on experience with agent frameworks such as LangGraph, LangChain, or Semantic Kernel, and with Model Context Protocol or comparable agent-to-tool integration technologies.
- Experience implementing AI security, guardrails, governance, evaluation, or observability for AI systems.
- Track record of mentoring engineers, contributing to engineering standards, and collaborating across teams to deliver customer outcomes.
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.
Skills Required
- Bachelor’s degree plus 8 years of related experience, or Master’s degree plus 6 years of related experience, or equivalent work experience
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience delivering production applications
- Professional experience with Python, Java, Go, JavaScript/TypeScript, or C++
- 3+ years developing and operating microservices, REST APIs, or distributed applications on a public cloud platform such as AWS
- 2+ years deploying and operating containerized applications in Kubernetes in a production environment
- 1+ year of hands-on experience building applications with generative AI or large language models, including retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings, or tool and function calling
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
- Experience developing or integrating AI agents and agentic workflows in an enterprise setting
- Experience with LangGraph, LangChain, Semantic Kernel, Model Context Protocol, or comparable agent-to-tool integration technologies
- Experience implementing AI security, guardrails, governance, evaluation, or observability
- Track record of mentoring engineers, contributing to engineering standards, and collaborating across teams
Cisco Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Cisco and has not been reviewed or approved by Cisco.
-
Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as broad, with medical options including PPOs, high-deductible plans, and regional HMOs. Feedback suggests robust wellness and mental-health resources, with some locations offering on-site support and second medical opinions.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is highlighted through paid holidays, paid time off, and additional recharge days such as “Days for Me,” with generous volunteer time also mentioned. Feedback suggests these programs help support rest, volunteering, and critical life events.
-
Parental & Family Support — Parental and family support appears extensive, including paid child-bonding leave, family medical leave, and caregiving resources. Observations also point to family-planning assistance and adoption or surrogacy support in some regions.
Cisco Insights
What We Do
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) enables people to make powerful connections--whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create the Internet solutions that make networks possible--providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time. Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies. Today, with more than 71,000 employees worldwide, this tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products and solutions in the company's core development areas of routing and switching, as well as in advanced technologies such as home networking, IP telephony, optical networking, security, storage area networking, and wireless technology. In addition to its products, Cisco provides a broad range of service offerings, including technical support and advanced services. Cisco sells its products and services, both directly through its own sales force as well as through its channel partners, to large enterprises, commercial businesses, service providers, and consumers.
