Director of AI Engineering & Agentic Platforms

Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 251,000 - 363,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose is seeking an engineering leader to define and execute the AI strategy, delivering production-grade agentic AI systems at scale.

You will lead diverse teams across software, ML, and data engineering, shaping architecture and platform foundations for autonomous agents. The role requires deep technical leadership, experience with LLMs and AI architectures, and collaboration with product and business stakeholders to translate strategy into production applications.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of software engineering experience (or 12+ with a Master’s).
• 5+ years of engineering management experience leading software and ML teams.
• Experience programming in Python, Java, or C++.
• Experience building data-driven AI/ML systems and AI agents.
• Experience deploying systems utilizing LLMs, NLP, Generative AI, or Agentic AI architectures.

Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end development of agentic AI solutions across the CX adoption and renewals portfolio.
• Lead architecture and build core platform to host Agentic solutions.
• Manage and mentor cross-functional teams of software, ML, and data engineers and technical leaders.
• Standardize tools, frameworks, and foundation model infrastructure across the portfolio.
• Align requirements with product management and business stakeholders for production AI applications.
• Establish best practices for responsible AI, context engineering, and observable agent deployment.

Skills

Python

Java

C++

ML engineering

Agentic AI

LLM architectures

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or related field

Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in AI/CS/ML

Tools

Foundation model infrastructure

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose is seeking an engineering leader to define and execute the AI strategy, delivering production-grade agentic AI systems at scale.

You will lead diverse teams across software, ML, and data engineering, shaping architecture and platform foundations for autonomous agents. The role requires deep technical leadership, experience with LLMs and AI architectures, and collaboration with product and business stakeholders to translate strategy into production applications.