Technical Lead, Network Engineering

Cisco Systems, Inc; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 187,000 - 308,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc in the United States is seeking a senior operations engineer to support large-scale datacenter and cloud networking environments. You will build, deploy, and troubleshoot with automation and data-driven approaches.

You will work with Python tools, AI-assisted workflows, OpenConfig/gNMI paths, and collaborate with engineering to resolve critical issues for top customers. The role emphasizes scalable designs and rapid incident response.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + 8 years experience, or Master's + 6 years, or PhD + 3 years, or equivalent.
• Experience with routing and switching technologies in production or labs.
• Experience with structured data and telemetry, including time-series concepts and anomaly detection.
• Experience with Python including automation, parsing workflows, and troubleshooting tools.
• Experience with AI-assisted tools or GenAI/LLM APIs for operational support.

Responsibilities

• Serve as technical focal point for customer solutions, translating constraints into scalable, supportable designs and operational models.
• Partner closely with engineering teams to troubleshoot and resolve complex issues across datacenter and cloud networking stacks, establishing repeatable diagnostics and clear escalation paths.
• Support high-priority customers on deep, cross-layer issues, driving problems to root cause with data-backed analysis and clear technical narratives.
• Apply hyper-scale operational best practices, including telemetry, alerting, and workflow automation, to improve mean time to detect and resolve issues.
• Develop and maintain Python-based tools to parse, correlate, and visualize operational data, and leverage AI/ML or LLM-based approaches where appropriate for log analysis, triage, and summarization.

Skills

Python

Networking

Telemetry

AI tools

Education

Bachelor's degree + 8 years experience

Master's + 6 years experience

PhD + 3 years experience

Tools

OpenConfig

gNMI

YANG

Linux

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/29/2026

Meet the Team

This team builds and supports networking products leveraging Cisco IOS-XR and open-source technologies, operating at the intersection of systems and silicon. The environment spans hyper-scale data centers, cloud infrastructure, and highly distributed systems where reliability, scalability, and customer outcomes are critical.

The team combines deep platform and networking expertise with modern automation and data-driven approaches, including AI-assisted workflows, to accelerate issue resolution and improve product behavior in production. This role sits at the center of customer engagement, production support, and engineering collaboration, serving as a key bridge between customers and internal teams.

Your Impact

You will play a critical role in strengthening the team’s ability to build, deploy, and troubleshoot large-scale datacenter and cloud networking environments while scaling operational excellence through automation and intelligent tooling. You will:

• Serve as a technical focal point for customer solutions, translating real-world constraints into scalable, supportable designs and operational models.

• Partner closely with engineering teams to troubleshoot and resolve complex issues across datacenter and cloud networking stacks, establishing repeatable diagnostics and clear escalation paths.

• Support high-priority customers on deep, cross-layer issues, driving problems to root cause with data-backed analysis and clear technical narratives.

• Apply hyper-scale operational best practices, including telemetry, alerting, and workflow automation, to improve mean time to detect and resolve issues.

• Develop and maintain Python-based tools to parse, correlate, and visualize operational data, and leverage AI/ML or LLM-based approaches where appropriate for log analysis, triage, and summarization.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years of related experience, or PhD + 3 years of related experience, or equivalent related work experience.

• Experience with routing and switching technologies in production environments or advanced lab settings.

• Experience working with structured data and operational telemetry, including experience with time-series concepts, anomaly detection, or similar analytical approaches.

• Experience with Python (or another programming language) including building automation, parsing workflows, and troubleshooting tools (beyond basic scripting).

• Experience with AI-assisted tools or workflows in engineering environments, including safe and effective use of GenAI or LLM-based APIs for operational support.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with OpenConfig (OC) paths for network configuration, state retrieval, and telemetry.

• Work with YANG data models and understand the hierarchy and structure of OpenConfig paths.

• Implement and troubleshoot configuration and telemetry workflows using protocols such as gNMI

• Strong Linux experience supporting lab, tooling, or production-adjacent environments.

• Background in system architecture, deployment engineering, or field engineering within Tier-1 enterprise or hyperscale environments.

• Familiarity with open-source and network operating systems such as SONiC, IOS-XR, or FBOSS.

• Experience with network testing and validation tools such as Ixia, Spirent, or similar platforms.

• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals including L2/L3, VXLAN, and security services such as MACsec.

• Proven ability to troubleshoot and perform root cause analysis in large-scale, multi-vendor environments.

• Experience supporting high-priority or escalated customer issues, with the ability to lead technically during critical situations.

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 $186,900.00 to $267,700.00 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:

$186,900.00 - $307,800.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$166,300.00 - $274,100.00

* 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.