Director, Physical AI & Autonomous Robotics

Cisco Systems, Inc; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 230,000 - 291,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) with Cisco matching

Paid parental leave

Disability coverage

Life insurance

Bonuses

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. seeks a Director of Physical AI and Common Services to lead end-to-end strategy, architecture, mechatronic modifications, and software engineering for quadpedal and humanoid robotic fleets across Cisco's global campuses and data centers.

You will own hardware customization, on‑chassis software, safety governance, and collaborations with OEMs, ensuring secure edge AI compute and seamless integration with Cisco's AI fabric.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in robotics, mechatronics, electrical engineering, CS, or related field.
• 10+ years of engineering experience in robotics, mechatronics, embedded systems, or autonomous hardware.
• Direct technical leadership of multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Experience deploying autonomous mobile robot, quadruped, or humanoid platforms.
• Proficient in C++ or Python for robotics/edge compute.

Responsibilities

• Own hardware customization, on‑chassis software, and safety governance for global deployments.
• Lead evaluation, co‑development, and execution with robotics manufacturers.
• Design and deploy autonomous concierge robots for executive facilities.
• Integrate edge AI, sensor suites, and secure agent interfaces.
• Develop on‑chassis ROS 2 compute pipelines and MCP/A2A integrations.

Skills

Robotics leadership

Embedded systems

C++/Python

ROS 2

Joint Development Agreements

802.1X / Okta security

Education

Bachelor's degree in Robotics/Mechatronics/EE/CS

Master's degree preferred

PhD preferred

Tools

ROS 2 (Humble/Iron)

NVIDIA Jetson

Nav2 / SLAM

gRPC/REST

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. seeks a Director of Physical AI and Common Services to lead end-to-end strategy, architecture, mechatronic modifications, and software engineering for quadpedal and humanoid robotic fleets across Cisco's global campuses and data centers.

You will own hardware customization, on‑chassis software, safety governance, and collaborations with OEMs, ensuring secure edge AI compute and seamless integration with Cisco's AI fabric.