Technical Marketing Engineer, Cisco Validated

Cisco Systems, Inc.; North Carolina; Hybrid; USD 133,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Technical Marketing Engineer for the Cisco Validated team in a hybrid role with 2–3 days in the office per week. You will contribute to lab validation, proof assets, and documentation, translating technical findings into credible field-ready assets.

You will collaborate with Sr. TMEs, architects, and field teams to execute test plans, capture evidence, and grow toward broader validation ownership while expanding Cisco portfolio fluency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical field
• 2+ years hands-on testing, troubleshooting, supporting, or deploying networking, security, cloud, collaboration, or data center technologies
• Experience following test plans, capturing evidence, documenting findings, and communicating technical results

Responsibilities

• Secure networking, routing, switching, wireless, segmentation, policy, observability, secure access, identity, firewall, VPN, and zero trust concepts.
• Cloud, data center, AI infrastructure, workload connectivity, high-performance fabrics, and hybrid cloud architectures.
• Collaboration platforms, user experience, application behavior, and integrated workflow considerations.
• Digital resilience, operational continuity, telemetry, troubleshooting, incident readiness, and repeatable recovery patterns.
• Lab validation methods, performance testing, interoperability testing, evidence capture, and technical documentation.

Skills

Hands-on networking testing

Troubleshooting

Documentation and communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or CS/IT

Tools

Cisco technologies

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/29/2026. This is a hybrid position and requires 2-3 days in office per week. Candidates should be located in San Jose, CA or Raleigh, NC or Atlanta, GA.

Meet the Team

Join Cisco Validated, the team responsible for turning Cisco's integrated technology strategy into field-credible, evidence-backed proof. Cisco Validated has long helped customers, partners, and field teams deploy with confidence through tested designs, deployment guidance, and validated architectures. As Cisco's portfolio becomes more integrated across networking, security, collaboration, AI, and resilience, the team is evolving to validate not only individual designs, but the cross-portfolio outcomes Cisco presents to the market.

This team works across Business Unit product managers, TMEs, architects, field teams, and leadership to clarify what is real, what is repeatable, and what is ready for customers. The work spans lab validation, proof motions, reference architectures, technical findings, and field-facing assets that help sales and customers understand how Cisco technologies work better together.

Your Impact

As a Technical Marketing Engineer on the Cisco Validated team, you will help turn Cisco's One Cisco and Better Together strategy into field-credible technical proof. You will contribute to validation workstreams for integrated Cisco solutions, building and testing lab environments that reflect real customer scenarios and help determine what is repeatable, supportable, and ready for the field.

You will work with Sr. TMEs, mid-level TMEs, Business Unit TMEs, architects, field teams, and Cisco Validated peers to execute test plans, capture evidence, troubleshoot issues, and translate technical findings into documentation inputs and proof assets. You will be expected to learn quickly, stay adaptable through technical ambiguity, and build confidence moving validation tasks from test plan to credible proof.

You will also develop broader technical fluency across the Cisco portfolio, learn repeatable validation practices, and grow toward larger validation workstream ownership over time.

Responsibilities include:

• * Secure networking, routing, switching, wireless, segmentation, policy, assurance, observability, secure access, identity, firewall, VPN, and zero trust concepts.
• * Cloud, data center, AI infrastructure, workload connectivity, high-performance fabrics, and hybrid cloud architectures.
• * Collaboration platforms, user experience, application behavior, and integrated workflow considerations.
• * Digital resilience, operational continuity, telemetry, troubleshooting, incident readiness, and repeatable recovery patterns.
• * Lab validation methods, performance testing, interoperability testing, evidence capture, and technical documentation.

Technical Scope

The ideal candidate is building technical fluency in networking, with the curiosity and aptitude to learn adjacent Cisco technologies as the portfolio evolves. This role requires enough technical foundation to support validation work, identify issues, document findings, and understand how Cisco technologies work together in real customer environments.

Key areas of technical scope may include:

• * Secure networking, routing, switching, wireless, segmentation, policy, assurance, observability, secure access, identity, firewall, VPN, and zero trust concepts.
• * Cloud, data center, AI infrastructure, workload connectivity, high-performance fabrics, and hybrid cloud architectures.
• * Collaboration platforms, user experience, application behavior, and integrated workflow considerations.
• * Digital resilience, operational continuity, telemetry, troubleshooting, incident readiness, and repeatable recovery patterns.
• * Lab validation methods, performance testing, interoperability testing, evidence capture, and technical documentation.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical field and 7+ years of hands‑on industry experience
• 2+ years of hands‑on experience testing, troubleshooting, supporting, or deploying networking, security, cloud, collaboration, or data center technologies.
• Experience following test plans, capturing evidence, documenting findings, and communicating technical results.

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of the Cisco portfolio, with hands‑on experience across one or more Cisco technologies and a basic understanding of how Cisco products integrate into broader customer architectures.
• Strong foundational networking knowledge, including routing, switching, wireless, security, cloud connectivity, segmentation, policy, observability, or related infrastructure concepts.
• Foundational awareness of AI infrastructure concepts, such as data center connectivity, workload placement, high-performance networking, or secure AI architecture.
• Exposure to validating, designing, deploying, or supporting integrated solutions in lab, field, customer, partner, or systems engineering environments.
• Ability to document and communicate technical findings clearly, with growing confidence presenting validation results.
• Demonstrated ability to learn quickly, stay adaptable, and remain effective in ambiguous technical environments.
• Strong curiosity, initiative, and willingness to build technical breadth across Cisco's portfolio.

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 $132,800.00 to $185,100.00 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 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:

$154,900.00 - $259,100.00

Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state:

$136,500.00 - $228,300.00

* 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.