Machine Learning Engineer; Hybrid

Position: Machine Learning Engineer (Hybrid)
Applications are accepted until.

Who We Are

Join us at Cisco to shape the future of enterprise AI. We are building an AI Platform Team focused on creating the next‑generation foundation that powers intelligent, secure, and scalable AI solutions across Cisco’s ecosystem. This team is at the forefront of bridging research innovation with real‑world application, addressing some of the most fundamental challenges in AI from advancing large language model capabilities and building agentic frameworks to optimizing data pipelines and ensuring trustworthy AI deployment at scale.

As part of this pioneering effort, you’ll collaborate with leading AI researchers, data scientists, and engineers to design, develop, and operationalize AI systems that drive measurable business impact for millions of users worldwide. If you’re passionate about solving hard technical problems and shaping how AI transforms enterprise security and networking, this is where you’ll make it happen.

What You Will Do

• Model Training and Evaluation:
This encompasses the complete cycle of training, fine‑tuning, and validating language models. You will design and adapt LLMs for use in virtual assistants, automated chatbots, content recommendation systems, etc. You will develop evaluation methods and iterate on improvements.

• Algorithm Development for Enhanced Language Understanding:
Focus on developing or refining algorithms to improve the efficiency and accuracy of language models and understanding and generation tasks.

• Experimentation with Emerging Technologies and Methods:
Actively explore new technologies and methodologies in language model development, including experimental frameworks and software tools.

Basic Qualifications

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Education & Experience:

BA/BS with 3+ years or MS in machine learning, proven project portfolio.

• ML Systems & Algorithms:
Strong background in ML engineering, deep learning, and statistical modeling; experience building scalable ML solutions.

• LLM Expertise:
In‑depth knowledge of Transformer‑based architectures (e.g., GPT) and training/fine‑tuning large‑scale models; exposure to agentic frameworks.

• NLP

Skills:

Data preprocessing (tokenization, stemming, lemmatization), handling ambiguity and context, and transfer learning for domain/language adaptation.

• Data & Evaluation:
Skilled in data annotation strategies and model evaluation with appropriate metrics (LLM as judges, RAG and Agent evaluations and so on).

• Scalability & Deployment:
Experience deploying LLMs to production with efficiency, reliability, and scalability.

• Applications:
Applied LLMs in chatbots, content generation, semantic search, and related use cases.

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Computational Linguistics or a related field.

• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python or R, and experience with machine learning libraries (e.g., Tensor Flow, PyTorch).

• Excellent problem‑solving and communication skills, with the ability to explain sophisticated concepts to non‑technical partners.

• Proven experience working collaboratively in multi‑functional teams.

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 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.

Salary & Compensation

The starting salary range posted for this position is $ to $ and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation,…