AI Operations Engineering Technical Leader

AI Operations Engineering Technical Leader

Location:

San Jose, California, US

Area of Interest

Compensation Range

USD - USD

Job Type

Professional

AI or Artificial Intelligence

Job Id

• Location: San Jose, California, US
• Area of Interest Engineer - Software
• Compensation Range USD - USD
• Job Type Professional
• Technology Interest AI or Artificial Intelligence
• Job Id

Meet the Team

The Cisco AI Software & Platform Group incubates and delivers Generative AI based solutions to reinvent Cisco's existing Products and how customers interact with them. Our Group is also introducing new offerings that help customers roll out Generative AI at scale while doing so responsibly. Ultimately, we are doing so through internal platforms that unlock the benefits of this technology for Cisco teams and partners across our Security, Enterprise Networking, Collaboration and Splunk portfolios.

Your Impact

Cisco is looking for a highly experienced and innovative ML Operations Engineer to join

our global DevOps team. In this critical role, you will drive the production readiness, deployment, and maintenance of scalable machine learning systems. You will work closely with cross-functional team of data scientists, software development engineers, information security professionals, and DevOps engineers on creating secure and resilient ML pipelines.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and manage robust ML pipelines for training, validation, and deployment
• Build and maintain scalable infrastructure for ML experiments and inference in multiple public cloud
• Implement CI/CD for ML systems ensuring reproducibility and traceability
• Advocate automation in every layer of the infrastructure stack using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and tools such as Terraform, Helm, and GitOps frameworks.
• Monitor models in production for performance degradation, drift, and fairness
• Participate in on-call rotation for ML Operations
• Work closely with data scientists, engineers, and product managers to understand requirements and integrate models into applications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Comp Science, Engineering (or related field /industry) + 8 years of DevOps experience, Masters + 6 years of related experience, or PhD + 3 years of related experience.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and automation tools.
• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Proficiency in Python and familiarity with ML libraries (e.g., Scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.)
• Strong understanding of ML lifecycle management and model versioning

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience deploying large language models (LLMs) or generative AI systems
• Familiarity with feature stores, vector databases, or data observability platforms
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and mentoring skills.
• Deep expertise in CI/CD tooling and practices, including hands-on experience with systems like Jenkins, GitLab, ArgoCD, or similar.
• Strong proficiency in Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud-native patterns in AWS, Azure, or GCP.

#WeAreCisco

#WeAreCisco where every individual brings their unique skills and perspectives together to pursue our purpose of powering an inclusive future for all.

Our passion is connection—we celebrate our employees’ diverse set of backgrounds and focus on unlocking potential. Cisconians often experience one company, many careers where learning and development are encouraged and supported at every stage. Our technology, tools, and culture pioneered hybrid work trends, allowing all to not only give their best, but be their best.

We understand our outstanding opportunity to bring communities together and at the heart of that is our people. One-third of Cisconians collaborate in our 30 employee resource organizations, called Inclusive Communities, to connect, foster belonging, learn to be informed allies, and make a difference. Dedicated paid time off to volunteer—80 hours each year—allows us to give back to causes we are passionate about, and nearly 86% do!

Our purpose, driven by our people, is what makes us the worldwide leader in technology that powers the internet. Helping our customers reimagine their applications, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals is what we do best. We ensure that every step we take is a step towards a more inclusive future for all. Take your next step and be you, with us!

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees haveaccess to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.

Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days ofvacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco’s flexible Vacation Time Offpolicy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco’s Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter. Up to 80 hours ofunused sick timewill be carried forwardfrom one calendar yearto the nextsuch that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. 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 up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

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