Lead, AI-Native Software Architecture

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 172,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Technical Lead for AI-Native Software Engineering to shape technical direction across security tooling and AI-assisted development workflows.

This hybrid role requires strong architectural judgment and hands-on engineering leadership to guide teams through complex problems with urgency. You will collaborate with other technical leaders, defend architectural choices, and stay involved in design and code reviews when needed to ensure robust, scalable solutions

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, or demonstrated equivalent experience.
• Extensive, hands-on software engineering experience with a track record of architectural decisions for important systems.
• Deep expertise in software engineering design, architecture, and scale to defend strong technical designs.
• Experience guiding or mentoring engineers on technical decisions without formal management responsibility.
• Fluency in AI-native software development practices and ability to model and guide the same judgment.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction across the team's portfolio of work and guide engineers on deep architectural decisions.
• Lead on the hardest technical problems with optimized, defensible architectures.
• Mentor engineers on sound technical and architectural choices and defend them logically.
• Collaborate with other teams to resolve cross-cutting problems and drive shared decisions with urgency.
• Stay hands-on by reviewing designs and code where it matters.

Skills

Architectural decisions

Mentoring engineers

AI-native software development

Technical leadership

Education

BS or MS in CS/CE

Tools

APIs design

AI tooling

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Technical Lead for AI-Native Software Engineering to shape technical direction across security tooling and AI-assisted development workflows.

This hybrid role requires strong architectural judgment and hands-on engineering leadership to guide teams through complex problems with urgency. You will collaborate with other technical leaders, defend architectural choices, and stay involved in design and code reviews when needed to ensure robust, scalable solutions