Principal Machine Learning Engineer, AISWP; Hybrid

Position: Principal Machine Learning Engineer, AISWP (Hybrid)
The application window is expected to close on: 10/18/2026

Meet the Team AI Platform Group Office of the CTO:
We are the Forward Deployed Engineering team for Cisco’s AI-native portfolio. Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of Cloud Control, AI Canvas, AI Studio, and AI Defense through a high-velocity, customer-led "skunk works" model. We operate as Product Market Fit (PMF) Pathfinders. We embed with customers, understanding how they operate and what they actually use rather than mearly hypothesize. We are experimentalists, prototype builders, and trailblazers who ship, measure, and prove value through direct, real-time code deployment.

Your Impact Join our team as a Principal Forward Deployed Engineer to shape the future of our AI-powered platforms. You will:
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Innovation: Deploy directly into high-impact customer environments to observe complex workflows, identify friction points, and build rapid prototypes that validate product-market fit. Bridge Research to Production:
Lead research-to-code initiatives, applying deep domain expertise in networking and security to solve real-world problems while ensuring prototypes are ready for production hardening. Data-Driven Roadmap Influence:
Partner with Product Management to drive verified usage metrics, ensuring high-priority features are backed by actual engagement data. Architect Enterprise Solutions:
Collaborate with core engineering to transition your prototypes into secure, multi-tenant, and scalable services that support Cisco’s global customer base. Technical Consultation:
Act as an internal industry expert, influencing Cisco’s technical leaders and product strategy by translating complex customer challenges into elegant, scalable software solutions. Culture Architect:
Lead a "customer-first" engineering mindset within the AI Platform group, coaching teams on rapid iteration, minimizing silos, and maintaining high velocity while adhering to enterprise compliance standards.

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in STEM and 15+ years of relevant experience, or Master's degree in STEM and  12+ years of relevant experience and or PhD in STEM 8+years of relevant experience or equivalent related work experience  Experience building and operating scalable, highly distributed multi-tenant systems with strict isolation and security boundaries.  Experience in building external-facing developer platforms or infrastructure-focused products. Prior experience in end-to-end system design (including observability, failure handling, and ergonomics) and the implementation of complex authorization models such as RBAC, ABAC, or policy-based enforcement.

Preferred Qualifications:

An AI-first mindset paired with the ability to exercise sound technical judgment and decompose vague, complex problems into well-scoped, actionable deliverables. Experience building shared infrastructure, abstractions, and "paved roads" that enhance productivity across engineering teams. Proficiency in spec-driven and schema-driven development, including the use of code generation, strongly typed API contracts, and implementation traceability. Understanding of the unique architecture and operational constraints associated with both SaaS and on-premise deployment models.

Ability to mentor immediate team members while effectively driving technical decision-making across cross-functional and cross-organizational boundaries. 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…