Software Microservices Platform Engineering Lead/ AI & Agentic AI Architect (Hybrid)

This role involves a hybrid work model, with a flexible in-office schedule that requires commuting to the Milpitas, CA office. 

Our DevNet team builds the cloud-native platforms and AI capabilities that Cisco engineers, customers, and the wider developer community rely on every day. We take emerging AI and agentic technology and turn it into production systems rather than demonstrations, which is where most organizations still stall. The team is a small and senior group of architects and engineers who work shoulder to shoulder with product, security, and platform teams, and who own their work from architecture through live operations. Debate here is direct and technical, and the person with the better argument wins regardless of title. Agentic AI is moving faster than any technology this team has worked with, and the decisions made here shape how Cisco adopts it safely.

• Architect and build AI and agentic AI solutions, including agent orchestration, tool integration, retrieval augmented generation, and autonomous workflows, so that emerging capability reaches customers as dependable product rather than experiment. 

• Design and operate secure microservice applications on AWS and Kubernetes, applying a security-first approach across application, API, container, identity, and data layers to protect enterprise data as system autonomy increases. 

• Establish architectural patterns and engineering practices that other teams adopt, raising the quality and speed of AI delivery well beyond this group. 

• Lead design and code reviews and mentor engineers, so that sound technical judgment scales further than any one person can reach. 

• Success in this role looks like agentic systems running in production with clear guardrails, measurable reliability, and engineers across the organization building on the patterns you set.

• Bachelors and 11+ years of related experience, or Masters and 7+ years of related experience, or PhD and 3+ of related experience, or equivalent related work experience.

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience delivering production-quality applications using one or more of the following languages: Python, Java, Go, or JavaScript/TypeScript. 

• 5+ years of experience designing, deploying, and operating microservice-based applications on a public cloud platform such as AWS, GCP and Azure.

• 3+ years of experience running containerized workloads in Kubernetes in a production environment.

• 2+ years of hands-on experience building applications with generative AI or large language models, including at least one production system using retrieval augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, or tool and function calling.

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

• Experience building enterprise-scale agentic AI platforms, including agent orchestration and multi-agent workflows.

• Hands-on experience with agent frameworks and protocols such as LangGraph, LangChain, Model Context Protocol, or Semantic Kernel.

• Experience with AI security, guardrails, policy enforcement, evaluation, and observability for AI systems in production.

• Ability to mentor engineers and influence architecture decisions across organizational boundaries without direct authority, evidenced through patents, publications, open-source contributions, or major engineering initiatives.

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.