Reliability Engineering Technical Leader

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

NOTE: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Candidate must be local to the San Jose area, as this is a hybrid role requiring 2-3 days in office.

The Global Process Operations (GPO) group is a core part of the Product Operations Central team, providing centralized expertise that strengthens the strategic and operational framework for Business Units (BUs) across Cisco’s product portfolio. This team partners with cross-functional leaders to define product lifecycle management (PLM) strategies, improve operational efficiency, and drive innovation and transformation across NPI, sustaining, and end-to-end supply chain processes.

As a Reliability Engineering Technical Leader, you will define and drive the reliability strategy for Cisco's next-generation networking products, ensuring exceptional quality from concept through field performance. You'll partner with engineering and executive leadership to proactively mitigate risk, influence product strategy, and lead cross-functional initiatives that strengthen product resilience while mentoring the next generation of technical leaders.

• Own the end-to-end reliability strategy across new product introductions, from upfront risk assessments through product launch and sustaining engineering.
• Lead cross-functional reliability planning, design reviews, FMEA, validation testing, and root cause analysis to ensure products meet reliability objectives.
• Influence executive decision-making by providing strategic guidance on reliability risks, field performance, and long-term quality improvements.
• Drive continuous improvement through field reliability monitoring, lessons learned, closed-loop corrective actions, and data-driven reliability metrics.
• Champion transformational reliability initiatives, improving processes, methodologies, and collaboration across engineering, manufacturing, and quality organizations.
• Mentor and develop reliability engineers, fostering technical excellence, collaboration, and a culture of data-driven decision making.

• Education & Experience: Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related field with 12+ years of experience, or a Master's degree with 8+ years of relevant experience.
• Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of hardware reliability, system architecture, data center infrastructure, and PCBA-level failure mechanisms.
• Strategic Leadership: Proven ability to influence executive stakeholders by translating complex technical data into actionable business strategies and decisions.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Demonstrated success leading large-scale, cross-functional reliability initiatives while mentoring and developing engineering teams.
• Reliability & Risk Management: Expertise in identifying systemic reliability risks and implementing data-driven solutions that improve Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS).

• Black Belt certification/CRE/CQE is preferred.

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. 

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks.  Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees

• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco

• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees

• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)

• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next

• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members

• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. 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 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.