AI Researcher III

Position: AI Researcher III (Full Time) - United States
Please note this posting is to advertise potential job opportunities. This exact role may not be open today but could open in the near future. When you apply, a Cisco representative may contact you directly if a relevant position opens.

** Applications are accepted until further notice.*
* ** Meet the Team*
* Join a collaborative team of researchers and engineers dedicated to unlocking insights from substantial volumes of structured, unstructured, transactional, and real-time data. Together, we analyze diverse data sources to understand customer usage patterns and deliver actionable, impactful insights using advanced metrics, algorithms, and statistical techniques.

** Your Impact*
* As an AI Researcher III, you will drive innovation by leading sophisticated research in large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP), and multimodal deep learning. You will work alongside senior researchers and cross-functional teams to bridge the gap between theoretical research and scalable AI applications, transforming raw data into strategic insights that advance the field of AI  will be expected to own research initiatives, mentor junior team members, and influence the technical direction of our AI products.

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** Design and Execute Experiments:
** Develop, implement, and evaluate state-of-the-artmachine learning models and algorithms, focusing on performance, scalability, and accuracy.

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** Advanced Model Development:
** Lead the full research lifecycle, including data preprocessing, architectural design, and the fine-tuning of AI models for diverse enterprise applications.

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** Collaborative Research:
** Drive strategic initiatives by comparing algorithms, tuning hyperparameters, and documenting findings for internal reports and potential academic publications.

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** Technical Leadership:
** Present research results to technical and non-technical stakeholders, contributing to the team's collectiveexpertiseandidentifyingnew business opportunities.

** Minimum Qualifications*
* + Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience, or PhD + 1 year of related experience in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, ora related field.

+ Proficiency in software development, with strong experience in Python and production-grade software engineering practices.

+ Proven track recordof independently conducting research and delivering scalable AI solutions in a professional or academic environment.

+ Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex research findings into actionable business strategies for cross-functional partners.

** Preferred Qualifications*
* + Experience training and optimizing

Large Language Models (LLMs)-including modeling, fine-tuning (SFT/RLHF), and quantization-using frameworks like

PyTorch, Tensor Flow, or Hugging Face Transformers.

+ Expertise in deploying high-performance inference engines (e.g.,vLLM, NVIDIA Triton,Torch Serve) for efficient, large-scale LLM serving.

+ Demonstrated history of publishing research in top-tier AI/ML conferences (e.g.,NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL) or contributing to significant open-source AI projects.

+ Experience designing and scaling agentic AI workflows, multi-agent frameworks, and autonomous AI systems.

+ Proficiency in cloud-native deployment (Docker, Kubernetes) andMLOpspipelines on major cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

** 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…