Senior Software QA Engineer (AI Software/Platform Team), Hybrid, Milpitas, CA

Cisco Systems, Inc.; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking an AI QA Lead to define and execute the quality strategy for our Generative AI products and platforms.

You will design scalable testing across AI pipelines, APIs, UI, and multi-tenant SaaS, and establish release-readiness criteria with data-driven Go/No-Go decisions. You will mentor QA engineers, collaborate with Engineering, Product, UX, DevOps, and Documentation to raise quality standards and reliability across Cisco Secure offerings.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of relevant experience in QA for distributed software or cloud platforms.
• Experience designing test strategies and automation frameworks.
• Experience with Python and automated testing frameworks (Pytest, Playwright, Selenium).
• Experience validating REST/GraphQL APIs and CI/CD pipelines.
• Release-quality criteria and diagnosing system failures using test results, logs, metrics, and other data.

Responsibilities

• Lead the quality strategy for large-scale Generative AI products and platforms.
• Design scalable testing and automation approaches across AI pipelines, APIs, UI, federated microservices, and multi-tenant SaaS architectures.
• Mentor QA engineers and advance quality-first engineering practices across teams.

Skills

Quality strategy

Automation design

Python

Testing frameworks

REST/GraphQL APIs

CI/CD pipelines

Distributed systems

Leadership mentoring

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering or related field

Master’s or PhD with related experience

Tools

Kubernetes

ArgoCD

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 08/21/2026

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

The AI Software & Platform team delivers AI products and platform for all Cisco Secure products and portfolios so businesses around the world can defend against threats and safeguard the most vital aspects of their business with security resilience. Our passion lies in making our customers secure by simplifying security with zero compromise!

Your Impact

• Lead the quality strategy for large-scale Generative AI products and platforms, defining how we validate AI services, distributed systems, and end-to-end customer experiences.

• Design scalable testing and automation approaches across AI pipelines, APIs, user interfaces, federated microservices, and multi-tenant SaaS architectures to improve product quality and release confidence. Establish release-readiness practices using measurable quality gates, test traceability, production-representative environments, and data-driven Go/No-Go criteria.

• Analyze model degradation, system failures, and test instability to drive root-cause analysis and improve the reliability and resilience of our AI platform. Partner with Engineering, Product, UX, DevOps, Documentation, and Customer Engineering while mentoring QA engineers and advancing quality-first engineering practices across teams.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree, Engineering, or a related field, combined with 6 years of relevant experience, or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, combined with 4 years of experience or PhD, combined with 2 years of practical experience.

• Experienced designing and implementing test strategies, automation frameworks, and test infrastructure for distributed software systems, cloud platforms, or SaaS products.

• Python development experience and experience with automated testing frameworks such as Pytest, Playwright, Selenium, or equivalent.

• Experience validating frontend and backend systems, including REST and/or GraphQL APIs, service integrations, CI/CD pipelines, and distributed microservice architectures.

• Experience defining release-quality criteria and diagnosing system failures using test results, logs, metrics, and other engineering data.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience testing Generative AI, AI/ML platforms, AI agents, LLM-powered applications, or other AI-based products, including evaluation of model quality and degradation.

• Experience designing AI-agent-assisted QA workflows using tools such as Cursor, Claude, Codex CLI, or equivalent, including agent-based or MCP-based test orchestration.

• Experience testing multi-tenant cloud platforms and managing complex AI test environments involving datasets, model versions, feature flags, Kubernetes, and deployment technologies such as ArgoCD.

• Experience building scalable test frameworks and establishing practices across multiple engineering teams, including mentoring QA or software engineers.

• Knowledge of security, privacy, data governance, or compliance requirements relevant to enterprise SaaS and AI products.

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 $167,700.00 to $245,200.00 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 ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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:

$167,700.00 - $282,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$149,100.00 - $250,900.00

* 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.