AI Operations Engineering Technical Leader

Cisco•Milpitas, CA

1d•Remote

About The Position

Cisco is looking for a highly experienced and innovative ML Operations Engineer to join our global DevOps team. In this critical role, you will drive the production readiness, deployment, and maintenance of scalable machine learning systems. You will work closely with a cross-functional team of data scientists, software development engineers, information security professionals, and DevOps engineers on creating secure and resilient ML pipelines.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Comp Science, Engineering (or related field /industry) + 8 years of DevOps experience, Masters + 6 years of related experience, or PhD + 3 years of related experience.
Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and automation tools.
Knowledge of cloud platforms, minimally AWS with Azure and GCP as a bonus
Proficiency in Python and familiarity with ML libraries (e.g., Scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.)
Strong understanding of ML lifecycle management and model versioning

Nice To Haves

Experience deploying large language models (LLMs) or generative AI systems
Familiarity with feature stores, vector databases, or data observability platforms
Excellent communication, collaboration, and mentoring skills.
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.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and manage robust ML pipelines for training, validation, and deployment
Build and maintain scalable infrastructure using Kubeflow for ML experiments and inference in multiple public clouds
Implement CI/CD in GitHub for ML systems ensuring reproducibility and traceability
Experience driving the implementation LLM evaluation and observability solutions
Advocate automation in every layer of the infrastructure stack using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and tools such as Terraform, Helm, and GitOps frameworks
Monitor models in production for performance degradation, drift, and fairness
Participate in on-call rotation for ML Operations
Work closely with data scientists, engineers, and product managers to understand requirements and integrate models into applications

Benefits

medical, dental and vision insurance
a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution
paid parental leave
short and long-term disability coverage
basic life insurance
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
16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees (non-exempt)
flexible vacation time off program (exempt)
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
Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer
annual bonuses (for non-sales roles)
performance-based incentive pay (for sales roles)