System Hardware Board Design Engineering Lead (Onsite)

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 172,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Silicon One is seeking an experienced hardware engineer to define and drive the architecture of high‑performance networking boards. You will work across ASIC, board design, signal integrity, and thermal teams to ensure robust, scalable systems.

Responsibilities include leading hardware initiatives end-to-end, mentoring engineers, and partnering with silicon vendors and manufacturers to deliver cutting-edge Cisco silicon solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering with 7+ years of related experience
• Master’s or PhD with corresponding experience requirements
• Experience with hardware board design and system-level development
• Experience with high-speed digital design, signal integrity and hardware validation
• Schematic generation, layouts, and hands-on use of Cadence Concept and Allegro
• Experience with networking/server/high-performance embedded systems and related tech
• Leadership on technical projects and cross-functional collaboration
• Experience with EMI/EMC, thermal management and validation across product lifecycles

Responsibilities

• Define board-level architecture, technology choices, power-delivery strategy, and design direction for complex networking products.
• Lead major hardware initiatives from requirements through validation and manufacturing release.
• Resolve novel or high-risk signal integrity, power integrity, reliability, and thermal challenges.
• Participate in design reviews, architecture discussions, and laboratory investigations.
• Mentor engineers and improve hardware delivery processes.
• Establish design methods, constraints, verification strategies and quality improvements.
• Collaborate with silicon vendors, PCB fabricators, contract manufacturers and suppliers.
• Communicate risks, alternatives and recommendations to senior stakeholders.

Skills

High-speed digital design

Signal integrity

Power integrity

Hardware validation

Board design

System-level development

Networking/embedded systems

PCIe/DDR/SerDes

Thermal management

EMI/EMC

Leadership in technical projects

Vendor collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Master’s degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering

PhD in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Tools

Cadence Concept

Cadence Allegro

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Spectrum analyzers

Job description

About Cisco Silicon One

The application window is expected to close on: 12/30/2026 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.

Team Composition

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.

Opportunity

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!

Engineering Team

The Cisco Service Provider Routing Hardware Engineering team develops next-generation hardware by adhering to IEEE standards and industry best practices. Our engineers drive innovation across the full product lifecycle, serving as IP architects, creators, and solution integrators who manage products from concept to production. We design a new class of high-performance routers for the Internet of the future: Cisco 8000 Series routers. These cloud-enhanced systems are powered by Cisco Silicon One ASICs and deliver the scale, performance, and efficiency required by critical infrastructure.

Role Overview

You will collaborate with board design, ASIC, signal integrity, power, software, mechanical, thermal, manufacturing, systems, and supplier teams to define, design, validate, and release high-performance networking products.

Responsibilities

• Defining board-level architecture, technology choices, power-delivery strategy, and design direction for complex networking products.
• Leading major hardware initiatives from requirements and architecture through validation, qualification, and manufacturing release.
• Solving novel or high-risk signal integrity, power integrity, reliability, thermal, and manufacturing challenges.
• Actively participating in design reviews, architecture discussions, cross-functional technical investigations, and laboratory work.
• Guiding teams to clear, data-driven decisions.
• Mentoring engineers and improving hardware delivery processes.
• Establishing practical design methods, constraints, verification strategies, and quality improvements.
• Partnering with silicon vendors, PCB fabricators, contract manufacturers, and other suppliers on technical tradeoffs and product execution.
• Communicating technical risks, alternatives, and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Contributing to product‑line technology roadmaps.
• Owning the design and validation of a sub‑system.
• Ensuring designs meet functional specifications.
• Participating as a valuable team member in cross‑functional meetings, specification creation, and technical documentation.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering and 7+ years of experience, or Master’s in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering and 5+ years of related experience, or PhD in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering and 2+ years of related experience.
• Experience with hardware board design and system-level development, including high-speed digital design, signal integrity, power integrity, and hardware validation using lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and spectrum analyzers.
• Experience with taking board designs from concept through production, including schematic generation, layouts, troubleshooting, and hands‑on use of design tools such as Cadence Concept and Allegro.
• Experience with networking, server, computer, or high‑performance embedded systems, including technologies such as high-speed Ethernet, PCIe, DDR, SerDes, advanced packaging, multi‑phase power conversion, thermal management, EMI/EMC.
• Experience with leading technical projects or programs, partnering with silicon vendors, fabricators, contract manufacturers, or technology suppliers, and leading multi‑site engineering teams or cross‑functional tiger teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Methodical, analytical approach to problem solving, experience with breaking down complex issues, evaluating evidence, and documenting clear conclusions and next steps.
• Experience with networking product design.
• Experience with co‑packaged optics, near-packaged optics, or optical and signal‑integrity budget analysis.
• Experience creating test scripts in Python.
• Experience collaborating with cross‑functional teams.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.

About Cisco

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.

Compensation

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada: The starting salary range posted for this position is $171,600.00 to $245,000.00 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.
• U.S. 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 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: $171,600.00 - $281,800.00 Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state: $151,300.00 - $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.

Note

Cisconians power the future. We make impact as a team, innovating fast and fearlessly to create meaningful solutions on a large scale. The depth and breadth of our technology doesn't just benefit our customers – it also means limitless opportunities for us to experiment and learn. We understand the power each of our unique backgrounds bring when we work together. Because of that, we have a global network of thinkers, doers, experts, and curious creators who help one another do their life’s best work.