The application window is expected to close on: 07/29/2026Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Plans, conducts, analyzes, and shares research that advances the field of AI, as it relates to networking, security, programming, human-computer interaction, or other strategic areas in computer science. Utilizes expertise in AI and research methodologies to develop research plans, build models, run experiments, and provide models and solutions to relevant teams. Serves as research strategy liaison to engineers and product managers and works collaboratively with product management, engineering, and design teams to identify business and AI research goals. Summarizes and communicates results to all relevant partners and stakeholders to influence decisions.
What You’ll Do:
- Facilitates design and execution of research studies; may lead short to medium-term strategic research projects or initiatives (e.g., six-month to one-year research plans, roadmaps) with manageable complexity and resource requirements
- Influences a product team
- Applies strong knowledge of usage and applicability of a related set of AI and broad research tools/methods while considering ethical considerations of approaches
- Develops depth of expertise on one to two research approaches/topics and shapes research initiatives and strategies within area of specialism
- Monitors and evaluates emerging AI technologies and techniques to optimize solutions for business needs
- May be invited to participate and/or share perspectives on research methods at top AI conferences
- Utilizes a diverse array of advanced tools, models, and data structures to build, train, and evaluate AI models
- Iterates on and extends existing solutions with either new techniques or through adoption of existing methods from a related problem domain
- Engages in project discussions around methodology, providing valuable insights and expertise to optimize research processes and outcomes
- Identifies and/or creates new research initiatives that will advance products and processes at Cisco using AI
- Leads ongoing AI research planning and execution
- Determines best AI methods to be deployed based on research objectives
- Designs and leads experiments and/or prototypes
- Synthesizes and analyses data into triangulated insights that impact product decisions
- Uncovers themes and interprets data and insights across multiple studies, products, and/or customer journeys
- Recognizes the broader connections across the entire user journey to a create meta-analysis on a topic
- Independently develops and structures comprehensible presentations
- Leads working/collaboration sessions, typically with diverse, cross-functional audiences
- Collaborates with the business to understand novel problems, tracks ongoing issues and industry breakthroughs, and develops hypotheses to address issues and manage risk in an ethical manner
- Serves as research contact within own team to aid less-experienced colleagues
- Keeps abreast of industry changes and the latest developments to optimize the application of new AI technologies and techniques to solve business problems and improve performance
- Leads creation of research proposals, papers, patents, or other artifacts; content is of scientific quality and rigor
- Shares knowledge/ideas in relevant forums with the company and may present at industry forums
- May mentor peers or interns in either a formal or informal capacity
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience, or PhD + 1 year of related experience
Preferred Qualifications
Varies based on the team and business needs | Preferred Qualifications are desired education, experience, and skills that are in addition to Minimum Qualifications.
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 $167,000.00 to $211,400.00 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:
$199,700.00 - $292,800.00
Non-Metro New York state& Washington state:
$174,500.00 - $260,500.00
- 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.
