Principal Hardware Architect – ASIC & System Integration, Cisco Silicon One (Hybrid)

Cisco Systems, Inc; San Jose, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 234,000 - 330,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. seeks a Principal Hardware Engineer to drive architectural strategy across networking portfolios, spanning multiple groups and strategic accounts.

This role requires leadership in architecture, implementation, design, evangelism, and collaboration with product teams to deliver state-of-the-art ASICs and high-performance silicon. The position emphasizes system architecture, signal and power integrity, thermal design, and cross-functional engagement with customers and partners.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering with 15+ years of relevant signal and power integrity experience, or Master's degree with 12+ years, or PhD with 8+ years.
• At least 5 years’ experience driving System Architecture of hardware systems, including tradeoffs between signal integrity, power integrity, thermal design, total power consumption, cost and schedule.
• At least 5 years experience driving cross-functional buy-in and approval of complex strategic programs with executive management.
• At least 5 years experience generating, driving cross-functional review of and presenting customer-facing materials for strategic projects.

Responsibilities

• Actively participate in engagements with current and potential customers.
• Work with product marketing on future product architectures.
• Actively participate in standards committees to influence industry practices.
• Work with hardware, software and test engineering to deliver quality products to the field.
• Work with external vendors to ensure they can deliver products which meet our needs for future products.
• Support customer demonstrations at internal labs, demo labs, and/or trade shows and conferences.
• Author/co-author white papers and user tutorials for the Marketplace.
• Collaborate with Field Solutions and CSE teams to leverage expertise and scaling potential.

Skills

System Architecture

Signal Integrity

Power Integrity

Cross-functional leadership

Customer engagement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering

PhD in Electrical Engineering

Tools

FPGA design

ASIC design

Verification

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/26/2026

This role involves a hybrid work model, with a flexible in-office schedule that requires commuting to the Milpitas, CA office.

Meet the Team

Cisco Silicon One (#CiscoSiliconOne) is a business organization with a long track record of building complex and high-performance Silicon ASICs. Our silicon devices drive the world’s most complex networks and carry over 90% of IP traffic. 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 all the way through web scale data centers and across service provider, enterprise networks, and data centers with a fully unified routing and switching portfolio.

We are a highly specialized ASIC team with experts in all aspects of advanced IC package design and heterogeneous system integration. Our substrates use the latest 2.5D fanout technologies for large-scale integration, using the latest signaling and data transfer technologies. Come join us and take part in shaping Cisco's ground-breaking solutions by designing, developing and testing some of the most complex ASICs being developed in the industry!

Your Impact

We are seeking a Principal Hardware Engineer to serve as a key technical authority within our networking organization. This role transcends individual product lines, positioning you to drive architectural strategy across internal cross-functional groups and our most strategic customer accounts. You will act as the vital link between cutting-edge innovation and real-world market success, shaping the future of our product portfolio from initial concept to field deployment.

The target technology area goes beyond a single product or product line, and will require working with multiple groups inside Cisco, and customers. This position requires high skill levels in architecture, implementation, design, evangelize, marketing support, and account team engagement.

• Actively participate in engagements with current and potential customers. Ensure feedback from customers is incorporated into future products, working with product management and engineering
• Work with product marketing on future product architectures
• Actively participates in standards committees to influence industry practices.
• Work with hardware, software and test engineering to deliver quality products to the field
• Work with external vendors to ensure they can deliver products which meet our needs for future products
• Support customer demonstrations at internal labs, demo labs, and/or trade shows and conferences
• Author/co-author white papers and user tutorials for the Marketplace
• Collaborate with Field Solutions and CSE teams to leverage expertise and scaling potential
• Provide technical TOI and NPI training in various customer-oriented events

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and 15+ years of relevant signal and power integrity experience, or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and 12+ years of relevant signal and power integrity experience, or PhD in Electrical Engineering and 8+ years of relevant signal and power integrity experience.
• At least 5 years’ experience driving System Architecture of hardware systems, including tradeoffs between signal integrity, power integrity, thermal design, total power consumption, cost and schedule.
• At least 5 years experience driving cross-functional buy-in and approval of complex strategic programs with interior executive management (concept commit, architectural commit, execution commit)
• At least 5 years experience generating, driving cross-functional review of and presenting customer-facing materials for strategic projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrates impactful proficiency in system architecture, hardware, and software design, including FPGA and ASIC design and verification, system bring-up and debug, and thermal design.
• Exhibits effective skills in articulating complex ideas and technical concepts clearly and effectively to diverse audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Possesses successful documentation and organizational capabilities, adept at defining workflows that clarify priorities, setting meeting agendas, recording, and distributing notes, and driving tradeoffs to resolution with key stakeholders.
• Demonstrates leadership excellence with experience building and nurturing technical relationships across customer architects, software teams, and Cisco cloud, data center, and network product teams and partners.
• Excels in communication, with experience developing presentations, whitepapers, and architectural documents in collaboration with platform engineering.
• Skilled in customer presentations, preparing thoroughly and responding dynamically to guide discussions positively.
• Exhibits exceptional decision-making, conflict resolution, perseverance, and follow-through to ensure successful outcomes.

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.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $233,900.00 to $330,400.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco
• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;
• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;
• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$233,900.00 - $380,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$220,900.00 - $344,300.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.