Distinguished Engineer, Hardware Quality (Systems Reliability & Failure Analysis)

Cisco; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 260,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco is seeking a Distinguished Engineer to lead the most complex root cause investigations across its Silicon & Optics QUAD Quality portfolio, translating findings into durable defensive design improvements.

You will influence product roadmaps, mentor teams, and present reliability commitments to executive customers, spanning hyperscaler, enterprise, and AI data center products.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 15+ years; Master’s with 14+; PhD with 10+ years related experience.
• Experience across board and system failure domains with influence upstream at portfolio level.
• Extensive experience resolving critical systemic quality issues across high-performance hardware programs at scale.
• Expert-level skills in leading investigations for highest-severity customer and field issues.
• Track record of patents, publications, or standards participation.

Responsibilities

• Define and govern comprehensive hardware quality strategies and validation standards for hyperscaler, enterprise, and AI data center markets.
• Lead high-stakes root cause analysis and corrective action programs across design, manufacturing, and supply chain.
• Institutionalize lessons learned by championing defensive design principles including improved fault tolerance and margins.
• Utilize data analysis and AI-driven pattern recognition on field telemetry to identify systemic trends.
• Advise executive leadership on product roadmaps and represent Cisco’s quality commitments to key customers.

Skills

Root cause analysis

Hardware design influence

Executive communication

Data analysis

AI pattern recognition

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

PhD

Tools

CT scanning

X-ray

SEM

EDS

Cross-sectioning

IC decapsulation

Job description

This is a hybrid role working onsite 3 to4 days a week in San Jose.

This is a portfolio-level hardware quality and failure analysis leadership role focused on board- and system-level hardware. We are looking for a deeply technical engineer with experience leading critical field/customer investigations and turning root causes into corrective actions and defensive design improvements across products.

This is not primarily a semiconductor process, silicon/IC reliability, manufacturing quality, or component qualification role. Patents, publications, standards participation, or other industry recognition are required.

Meet the Team

The Silicon & Optics (SaO) QUAD Quality team, part of Cisco’s Common Hardware Group (CHG), operates at the critical intersection of field performance, customer trust, and continuous product improvement. We are seeking a Distinguished Engineer to lead our most complex root cause investigations, translate technical findings into durable defensive design improvements, and serve as the primary technical authority representing Cisco’s quality standards to our executive-level customers.

Your Impact

This is a senior-level technical leadership position for someone passionate about defining and advancing hardware quality standards across Cisco’s high-performance portfolio, including switching, routing, and AI data center compute products.

Responsibilities

• Define and govern comprehensive hardware quality strategies and validation standards, ensuring long-term reliability for hyperscaler, enterprise, and AI data center markets.
• Lead high-stakes root cause analysis and corrective action programs, addressing critical failures across design, manufacturing, and supply chain to ensure both immediate remediation and long-term architectural robustness.
• Institutionalize lessons learned from field and manufacturing failures by championing "defensive design" principles—such as enhanced fault tolerance and design margins to prevent recurring issues in future generations.
• Utilize large-scale data analysis and AI-driven pattern recognition on field telemetry to proactively identify systemic trends and mitigate emerging risks before they impact customers.
• Advise executive leadership on product roadmaps, represent Cisco’s quality commitments to key customers, and elevate the engineering community through mentorship and industry-wide influence.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 15+ years of experience; Master’s degree with 14+ years; or PhD with 10+ years of related experience.
• Experience across board and system failure domains, with a proven track record of influencing hardware design decisions upstream at the portfolio level.
• Extensive experience resolving critical, systemic quality issues across high-performance hardware programs at scale.
• Expert-level skills in leading investigations for the highest-severity customer and field issues
• Track record of industry recognition through patents, publications, or active participation in standards bodies.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading executive-level technical briefings on root cause, corrective action, and reliability commitments for hyperscaler and large enterprise clients.
• Deep understanding of defensive design principles at the component, board, and system levels.
• Strong experience in physical failure analysis, including non-destructive methods (CT scanning, X-ray, TDR, thermal imaging) and destructive methods (SEM, EDS, cross-sectioning, IC decapsulation).
• Experience with industry frameworks governing hardware qualification, accelerated life testing, and failure rate modeling.
• Knowledge of quality/reliability engineering for high-speed interfaces, power delivery systems, and advanced packaging (liquid cooling, copper cables, connectors)

Why Cisco?

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.