Principal Hardware Systems Architect - ASIC (Silicon One) Ecosystem Integration & Product Strategy (Hybrid)

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

Job summary

Cisco Silicon One seeks a Principal Hardware Engineer to shape architectural strategy across teams and key accounts, driving system-level decisions from concept to deployment.

You will collaborate with hardware, software and test groups, influence product roadmaps, and contribute to customer engagements, white papers, and technical tutorials for the Marketplace. Hybrid in San Jose, with in-office schedule.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering with 15+ years of signal and power integrity experience or advanced degrees with relevant experience.
• Experience driving System Architecture of hardware systems and tradeoffs among signal integrity, power, thermal design, cost and schedule.
• Experience driving cross-functional buy-in and approval of complex strategic programs with executive management.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive architectural strategy across Cisco Silicon One and cross-functional groups.
• Collaborate with hardware, software and test engineering to deliver high-quality products to customers.
• Engage with current and potential customers; influence product management and marketing on future architectures.
• Prepare and present customer-facing materials and technical documentation for the Marketplace.

Skills

System architecture

Cross-functional leadership

Customer-facing materials

Communication

Decision making

Education

Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering

Master's in Electrical Engineering

PhD in Electrical Engineering

Tools

FPGA design

ASIC design

Thermal design

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 San Jose, 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