Cisco
Senior AI Researcher
San Francisco, California, US · Senior · Full-time
Sponsorship not specified$212k-$276kDetected 6 days ago
PythonAlgorithmsCode ReviewAWSGCPCloud PlatformsDockerKubernetesMachine LearningPyTorchLLMsAgentic AIMLOpsCybersecurityCiscoResearchExperimental DesignLeadershipCommunicationCollaboration
About the role
- The application window is expected to close on: 08/14/2026 Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
- Our research spans foundation models, agentic AI, multimodal learning, reasoning systems, scalable training algorithms, evaluation science, inference optimization, and AI systems infrastructure.
- We believe impactful research should advance both science and products.
Responsibilities
- Design and build new evaluation benchmarks and frameworks that improve the reliability, transparency and safety of AI models.
- Collaborate across research, engineering, product, and security teams to translate research into production AI systems and drive the adoption of the new research across Cisco's AI portfolio.
Requirements
- Exceptional ability to communicate complex scientific concepts to both highly technical peers and non-technical executive stakeholders.
Nice to have
- Experience deploying high-performance inference engines such as vLLM and SGLang, and working with cloud-native deployment, Docker, Kubernetes, MLOps pipelines, and major cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
- Experience designing and scaling agentic AI workflows, multi-agent frameworks, and autonomous AI systems.
- Demonstrated leadership within the global AI research community, specifically serving as an Area Chair or senior program committee member for top-tier AI conferences.
- 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.
- 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%
Compensation
- 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.
- The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:
Benefits
- 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.
- Invent and pioneer novel architectures and algorithms for foundation model training and inference, complex reasoning agentic AI systems, and multimodal learning.
- Drive frontier research in advanced domains such as reinforcement learning, mechanistic interpretability, and scaling laws, with applications to the cybersecurity domain.
- Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training.
Company info
- $193,800.00 - $282,100.00 * 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.
- 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.
This listing is sourced directly from Cisco's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.