Principal Data Platform Architect | Scalable AI & Analytics

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 296,000 - 375,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. in Milpitas, California, is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the architecture and development of foundational data services and data platform capabilities at enterprise scale.

You will define platform strategy and guide multiple engineering teams in delivering data products that support analytics, automation, and AI/ML workloads. This role requires 15+ years of experience with distributed systems, strong leadership, and deep knowledge of modern data stacks.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in CS, engineering, or related field.
• 15+ years designing large-scale distributed systems or data platforms.
• Experience with data services, cloud platforms, storage, processing, and SOA.

Responsibilities

• Define multi-year data platform roadmap and provide architectural guidance.
• Design and deliver highly available, scalable data systems for analytics/AI.
• Mentor senior engineers and collaborate across product, security, and infra teams.

Skills

Java

Go

Python

C++

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

Kafka

Flink

Spark

Object storage

Lakehouse architectures

Distributed SQL engines

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. in Milpitas, California, is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the architecture and development of foundational data services and data platform capabilities at enterprise scale.

You will define platform strategy and guide multiple engineering teams in delivering data products that support analytics, automation, and AI/ML workloads. This role requires 15+ years of experience with distributed systems, strong leadership, and deep knowledge of modern data stacks.