Hardware Engineering Technical Leader

Cisco Systems, Inc; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc is seeking a Lead Hardware Board Design Engineer in Milpitas, CA. You will define architecture, lead complex hardware initiatives, and collaborate with multiple teams to deliver high-performance networking products.

This individual contributor role emphasizes technical independence, ownership, and leadership across teams, without direct people management responsibilities.

Qualifications

• Experience with hardware board design and system-level development.
• Includes high-speed design, signal integrity, power integrity, and lab validation.
• Board designs from concept through production with tools like Cadence.

Responsibilities

• Defining board-level architecture, technology choices, power-delivery strategy, and design direction.
• Leading major hardware initiatives from requirements through validation and production release.
• Solving signal integrity, power integrity, reliability, thermal, and manufacturing challenges.
• Participating in design reviews, architecture discussions, investigations, and lab work.
• Guiding teams to data-driven decisions and mentoring engineers.
• Improving hardware delivery processes and establishing design methods.
• Partnering with silicon vendors, PCB fabricators, contract manufacturers, and suppliers.
• Communicating risks, options, and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Contributing to product-line technology roadmaps and documenting specs.
• Owning the design and validation of a sub-system and ensuring specs are met.
• Participating in cross-functional meetings and creating technical documentation.

Skills

High-speed digital design

Signal integrity

Power integrity

Lab validation

Board level design

System-level development

Networking hardware

Multi-site engineering

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Spectrum analyzers

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering

PhD in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering

Tools

Cadence Concept

Allegro

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 12/03/2026

Meet the Team

The Common Hardware Group (CHG) creates innovative hardware platforms central to the AI era, powering Cisco’s core Switching, Routing, and Wireless product s for organizations globally. Our innovations in silicon, optics, and hardware platforms—like Silicon One—are shaping the technology industry. We're a global team of creative experts, bringing our unique backgrounds and bold ideas to push boundaries and help each other grow. Because full product development—from design to qualification to production) is within our team, we’re able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly. Join us to power the future of the digital world.

Cisco Silicon One is the only unifying silicon architecture in the market that enables customers to deploy the best-of-breed silicon from Top of Rack (TOR) switches through web-scale data centers and across service providers, enterprise networks, and data centers with a fully unified routing and switching portfolio. Come join us and take part in shaping Cisco's ground-breaking solutions by designing, developing, and testing some of the most complex ASIC s being developed in the industry.

The Cisco Service Provider Routing Hardware Engineering team develops next-generation hardware by adhering to IEEE standards and industry best practices. Our engineers drive innovation across the full product lifecycle, serving as IP architects, creators, and solution integrators who manage products from concept to production.

We design a new class of high-performance routers for the Internet of the future: Cisco 8000 Series routers. These cloud-enhanced systems are powered by Cisco Silicon One ASIC s and deliver the scale, performance, and efficiency required by critical infrastructure. You will collaborate with board design, ASIC, signal integrity, power, software, mechanical, thermal, manufacturing, systems, and supplier teams to define, design, validate, and release high-performance networking product s.

Your Impact

As a Lead Hardware Board Design Engineer, you will be a recognized technical leader for a product. You will apply deep hardware expertise to define architecture, lead complex product initiatives, resolve difficult technical issues, and guide engineers across disciplines. This is an individual contributor role with broad technical influence; it does not require people management but demands technical independence, sound judgment, visible ownership, and leadership across teams. As a Lead Hardware Board Design Engineer, you will be responsible for:

• Defining board-level architecture, technology choices, power-delivery strategy, and design direction for complex networking product s.
• Leading major hardware initiatives from requirements and architecture through validation, qualification, and manufacturing release.
• Solving novel or high-risk signal integrity, power integrity, reliability, thermal, and manufacturing challenges.
• Actively participating in design reviews, architecture discussions, cross-functional technical investigations, and laboratory work.
• Guiding teams to clear, data-driven decisions.
• Mentoring engineers and improving hardware delivery processes.
• Establishing practical design methods, constraints, verification strategies, and quality improvements.
• Partnering with silicon vendors, PCB fabricators, contract manufacturers, and other suppliers on technical tradeoffs and product execution.
• Communicating technical risks, alternatives, and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Contributing to product-line technology roadmaps.
• Owning the design and validation of a sub-system.
• Ensuring designs meet functional specifications.
• Participating as a valuable team member in cross-functional meetings, specification creation, and technical documentation.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering and 7+ years of experience, or Master’s in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering and 5+ years of related experience, or PhD in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering and 2+ years of related experience.
• Experience with hardware board design and system-level development, including high-speed digital design, signal integrity, power integrity, and hardware validation using lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and spectrum analyzers.
• Experience with taking board designs from concept through production, including schematics generation, layouts, troubleshooting, and hands-on use of design tools such as Cadence Concept and Allegro.
• Experience with networking, server, computer, or high-performance embedded systems, including technologies such as high-speed Ethernet, PCIe, DDR, SerDes, advanced packaging, multi-phase power conversion, thermal management, EMI/EMC.
• Experience with leading technical projects or programs, partnering with silicon vendors, fabricators, contract manufacturers, or technology suppliers, and leading multi-site engineering teams or cross-functional tiger teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Methodical, analytical approach to problem solving, experience with breaking down complex issues, evaluating evidence, and documenting clear conclusions and next steps.
• Experience with networking product design.
• Experience with co-packaged optics, near-packaged optics, or optical and signal-integrity budget analysis.
• Experience creating test scripts in Python.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.

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