Reliability Engineering Leader, NPI & Field Quality

Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 163,000 - 205,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose, CA is seeking a Reliability Engineering Technical Leader to define and drive the reliability strategy for next-generation networking products from concept to field performance.

You will partner with engineering and executive leadership to mitigate risk, influence product strategy, and lead cross-functional initiatives that strengthen product resilience while mentoring the next generation of reliability engineers in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field with 12+ years of experience, or a Master's with 8+ years
• Deep knowledge of hardware reliability, system architecture, data center infrastructure, and PCBA-level failure mechanisms
• Strategic leadership to influence executive stakeholders with data-driven insights
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills with experience leading large cross-functional reliability initiatives
• Experience identifying systemic reliability risks and implementing improvements across RAS

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end reliability strategy across new product introductions, from upfront risk assessments through product launch and sustaining engineering.
• Lead cross-functional reliability planning, design reviews, FMEA, validation testing, and root cause analysis to ensure products meet reliability objectives.
• Influence executive decision-making by providing strategic guidance on reliability risks, field performance, and long-term quality improvements.
• Drive continuous improvement through field reliability monitoring, lessons learned, closed-loop corrective actions, and data-driven reliability metrics.
• Mentor and develop reliability engineers, fostering technical excellence and a data-driven culture.

Skills

Reliability engineering

Executive stakeholder influence

Cross-functional leadership

Mentoring engineers

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Master's degree

Tools

FMEA

Root cause analysis

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose, CA is seeking a Reliability Engineering Technical Leader to define and drive the reliability strategy for next-generation networking products from concept to field performance.

You will partner with engineering and executive leadership to mitigate risk, influence product strategy, and lead cross-functional initiatives that strengthen product resilience while mentoring the next generation of reliability engineers in a hybrid work environment.