Architect – AI / Agentic Automation

Cisco•San Jose, CA

3d•$166,300 - $307,800•Remote

About The Position

The Cisco IQ and Validation team is building the next generation of intelligent, AI-driven network validation and automation capabilities. We combine cloud-native software engineering, Agentic AI, LLMs, MCP, A2A, and network automation to enable customers to validate and operate complex environments more intelligently. The team brings together architects, senior engineers, software engineers, AI specialists, and domain experts working across a global organization. We are building foundational capabilities that will enable AI agents to reason, interact with enterprise tools, and safely execute validation workflows at scale.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in STEM, 8+ years of software engineering experience designing and building complex backend, distributed, automation, or platform systems.
Experience with Python Go, Rust, TypeScript, React, Node.js, .NET, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka, or similar technologies.
Experience designing distributed systems using APIs, databases, event-driven architectures, workflow systems, or cloud-native technologies.
Experience developing or architecting Generative AI, LLM, Agentic AI, MCP, A2A, or AI-enabled automation systems.
Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD, cloud platforms, and production software operations.
Experience designing advanced multi-agent architectures, including planner/executor patterns, agent handoffs, state management, checkpointing, retries, cancellation, or durable workflows.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing AI quality, evaluation, observability, and governance frameworks.
Experience with network automation, device connectivity, validation platforms, infrastructure automation, or enterprise network systems.
Experience leading architecture across multiple engineering teams and influencing technical strategy, standards, and platform roadmaps.
Experience architecting MCP and A2A systems, including capability discovery, tool schemas, authentication, context propagation, streaming, approval gates, auditability, and failure handling.

Responsibilities

Define and drive the architecture for AI decision systems, Agentic AI platforms, and enterprise-scale validation and automation capabilities within Cisco IQ and Validation.
Establish technical direction for agent architectures, MCP and A2A integrations, agent routing, tool orchestration, workflow execution, approval-gated actions, and distributed event-driven systems.
Guide architecture across backend services, APIs, databases, Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, observability, and production operations to ensure solutions are scalable, secure, reliable, and maintainable.
Drive technical alignment across Engineering, Product, UX, Security, Infrastructure, QA, and partner teams and provide technical leadership for complex, ambiguous, cross-functional initiatives.
Mentor senior engineers and technical leads while influencing platform strategy, engineering standards, and the long-term evolution of Validation.

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
grants of Cisco restricted stock units
10 paid holidays per full calendar year
1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
1 paid day off for employee’s birthday
paid year-end holiday shutdown
4 paid days off for personal wellness
16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year (non-exempt)
flexible vacation time off program (exempt)
80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter
up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward
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
annual bonuses (for non-sales roles)
performance-based incentive pay (for sales roles)