Principal ML Engineer: AI Platform Architect (Hybrid, San Jose)

Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 296,000 - 375,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to lead the design and deployment of scalable AI foundations across cloud, on-premises, and air-gapped environments in a hybrid role based in San Jose, CA.

You will guide architectural decisions, optimize models, and mentor engineers to deliver production-grade AI services at scale. The role requires deep expertise in Python, PyTorch/JAX, PEFT/LoRA, and production inference runtimes, with a strong emphasis on system-level

Qualifications

• Experience developing, fine-tuning, and optimizing models in Python, PyTorch or JAX, using PEFT or LoRA.
• Experience architecting and deploying production LLM and/or SLM inference runtimes optimized with continuous batching, KV-cache management, or speculative decoding.
• Experience architecting and deploying production RAG systems and agentic workflows using vector databases.
• Experience designing and implementing automated evaluation frameworks for AI systems, including golden test datasets, LLM-as-a-judge methodologies, drift detection, and/or CI/CD regression gates.
• Experience architecting production AI platform APIs featuring robust quota management, versioning, and deployment across hybrid cloud and air-gapped environments.

Responsibilities

• Design and build foundational AI platform architecture across cloud, on-premises, and air-gapped environments.
• Evaluate and implement models, frameworks, inference runtimes, and orchestration technologies for scalable AI services.
• Lead architecture reviews, mentor senior engineers, and influence platform direction through hands-on leadership.
• Drive cost optimization and governance for AI workloads with quota management and deployment standards.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

JAX

PEFT/LoRA

Vector databases

Production LLMs

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree + 14 years

Master's degree + 11 years

PhD + 7 years

Tools

KV-cache management

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to lead the design and deployment of scalable AI foundations across cloud, on-premises, and air-gapped environments in a hybrid role based in San Jose, CA.

You will guide architectural decisions, optimize models, and mentor engineers to deliver production-grade AI services at scale. The role requires deep expertise in Python, PyTorch/JAX, PEFT/LoRA, and production inference runtimes, with a strong emphasis on system-level