Machine Learning Engineering Lead

Cisco

. Own the architectural direction and cross-service technical execution for Cisco’s distributed AI platform .

Posted 10/20/2026full-timeSan Jose • California • United StatesSenior💰 $256,900 - $333,400 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in architectural direction and technical execution for distributed AI platforms, with a strong focus on identity management, multi-tenancy, and system security. Proven ability to mentor engineers and enhance technical maturity while ensuring high engineering standards and system stability.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Distributed Backend Microservices DesignProficiency In Go And PythonEnterprise Authentication And Authorization SystemsKubernetes Deployment And OperationOAuth 2.0/OIDC And JWT Experience

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Distributed Backend MicroservicesGo ProgrammingPython ProgrammingEnterprise Authentication SystemsAuthorization SystemsOAuth 2.0OIDCJWTKubernetesAutomated Secret Management

Soft Skills

MentoringLeadership

Tools & Technologies

OpenTelemetryAPMGRPCProtobufTemporalKafkaLaunchDarklyWeaviateMilvusPostgreSQL

Industry Keywords

Identity ManagementMulti-TenancyZero-Trust VerificationCVE RemediationSystem StabilitySecurity ResilienceHigh Engineering Standards

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

GRPCKafkaKubernetesMicroservicesPostgresPythonReactGo

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own the architectural direction and cross-service technical execution for Cisco’s distributed AI platform
Ensure robust identity and multi-tenancy
Author end-to-end technical specifications for platform capabilities
Decompose complex system designs into executable work streams across multiple engineering teams
Harden service-to-service communication through cryptographic identity signing and zero-trust verification
Lead structured CVE remediation and production triage
Maintain system stability and security resilience
Establish high engineering standards
Mentor senior engineers and drive the platform’s technical maturity

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical discipline plus 12+ years of professional software engineering experience; OR Master’s degree with 10+ years; OR PhD with 7+ years; OR equivalent combination of education and verified industry software engineering experience
Minimum 8 years designing, building, and operating high-concurrency distributed backend microservices in production
Demonstrable proficiency in Go and Python
Minimum 4 years designing and implementing enterprise authentication and authorization systems
Experience with OAuth 2.0/OIDC, JWT, RFC 8693 token exchange, and mTLS
Experience building or integrating LLM orchestration frameworks, agentic runtimes such as ReAct, tool-calling interfaces, or MCP servers
Hands-on experience deploying and operating services on Kubernetes
Experience with automated secret management and distributed tracing using OpenTelemetry/APM
Preferred: experience designing API gateways, gRPC/protobuf service definitions, and shared client libraries across large monorepos
Preferred: experience with Temporal and real-time event streaming using SSE, WebSockets, or Kafka
Preferred: experience with feature flag lifecycle management and targeting using LaunchDarkly
Preferred: experience leading remediation programs with offensive security or red-team penetration testing groups
Preferred: experience integrating vector databases such as Weaviate, Milvus, or Qdrant and relational databases such as PostgreSQL/pgx at scale

Benefits

Comp & perks

Medical, dental and vision insurance
401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability coverage
Basic life insurance
Grants of Cisco restricted stock units, subject to eligibility and continued employment
10 paid holidays per full calendar year
1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
Paid employee birthday
Paid year-end holiday shutdown
4 paid personal wellness days
16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year for non-exempt employees
Flexible vacation time off program with no defined limit for eligible exempt employees
80 hours of sick time on hire date and each January 1st thereafter
Up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward
Additional paid time away for critical or emergency family issues
Optional 10 paid volunteer days per full calendar year
Annual bonuses for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco policies
Performance-based incentive pay for sales roles, subject to applicable Cisco plans
Opportunities to grow and build on a global scale