AI Operations Engineer

DevOps Engineer Opportunity At Cisco

The Cisco AI Software & Platform Group incubates and delivers Generative AI based solutions to reinvent Cisco's existing Products and how customers interact with them. Our Group is also introducing new offerings that help customers roll out Generative AI at scale while doing so responsibly. Ultimately, we are doing so through internal platforms that unlock the benefits of this technology for Cisco teams and partners across our Security, Enterprise Networking, Collaboration, and Splunk portfolios.

Cisco is looking for an experienced and innovative DevOps Engineer to join our global DevOps team. In this critical role, you will architect and build scalable, secure cloud infrastructure and lead the adoption of best-in-class DevOps practices across the organization. You will work closely with multi-functional teams to ensure seamless code delivery, system reliability, and operational excellence for our SaaS platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Implement end-to-end CI/CD workflows in a large-scale, distributed environment—enabling both on-demand and scheduled builds and deployments with zero downtime.
• Scale microservice-based platforms across multiple geographic regions, with a focus on container orchestration (Kubernetes), cost optimization, and automated scaling solutions.
• Collaborate with engineering, QA, and product teams to streamline delivery pipelines and promote DevOps best practices throughout the development lifecycle.
• Advocate automation in every layer of the infrastructure stack using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and tools such as Terraform, Helm, and GitOps frameworks.
• Continuously evaluate and adopt emerging DevOps tools and technologies to increase system resilience, reduce operational overhead, and enhance developer productivity.
• Participate in on-call rotation.
• Serve as a domain expert within the DevOps organization—promoting a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Comp Science, Engineering (or related field /industry) + 5 years of DevOps experience, Masters + 3 years of related experience, or PhD with related experience
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and automation tools.
• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Solid scripting and automation skills (e.g., Python, Bash, Go).

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep expertise in CI/CD tooling and practices, including hands-on experience with systems like Jenkins, GitLab, ArgoCD, or similar.
• Strong proficiency in Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud-native patterns in AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Demonstrated success scaling containerized microservices across regions with cost and performance optimizations.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and mentoring skills.

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 $181,000.00 to $235,000.00 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. 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.

Cisco is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.