Principal Designer - Cisco Cloud Control

Cisco•San Jose, CA

About The Position

Cisco is hiring a Principal Designer for Cloud Control Guidelines & Governance to steward the Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) for Cloud Control. The role will take the HIG from an initial framework to an adopted, evolving capability that helps teams determine what capabilities are, where they belong, what they are called, and how they work together. It is a highly leveraged individual-contributor position that builds alignment across design, product, engineering, Studio, and product organizations without relying on formal authority. The designer will bring partners together as an X-Team or guild and establish shared decisions and working practices that help teams work with greater clarity and autonomy. The role is expected to use AI tools and agents to expand capacity in research synthesis, change management, prototyping, content operations, and validation, combined with strong design judgment, relationship building, and accountability. The desired outcome is an adopted HIG across participating product groups, with consistent human-readable guidance and encoded rules. Shared decisions should include ownership, rationale, examples, and a defined process for revisiting them as products and models evolve. AI-enabled workflows should support a reliable operating cadence and provide reusable ways for teams to discover, apply, and continuously improve the guidance, while allowing teams to address customer problems within a more coherent Cloud Control experience.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree plus 15 years of related experience, or master’s degree plus 12 years, or PhD plus 8 years, or equivalent related work experience.
10 or more years of experience in product design, information architecture, design systems, content architecture, or a closely related discipline, including principal-level or equivalent scope.
Experience shaping information architecture for complex digital products or platforms, including taxonomies, naming systems, conceptual models, and capability placement rules.
Experience creating or stewarding multi-team design guidelines, standards, or governance frameworks used across organizations.
Experience applying generative AI, agents, or automation to research synthesis, content operations, prototyping, or quality evaluation workflows.

Nice To Haves

Experience with enterprise SaaS, cloud platforms, multi-product ecosystems, developer platforms, or products used by internal and external builders.
Experience building or leading a guild, community of practice, X-Team, or other cross-organizational working group.
Familiarity with machine-readable design guidance, agent workflows, MCP, skills, evaluation rubrics, or AI-enabled development tools.
Experience connecting design guidelines to product quality checks, adoption measures, or evaluation systems.
Experience working across different customer needs, deployment models, regulatory contexts, or levels of product maturity.
Familiarity with design systems and content governance, including how shared guidance relates to components, terminology, technical architecture, and product-specific standards.

Responsibilities

Lead the evolution of Cloud Control’s Human Interface Guidelines from an initial framework into an adopted, continuously improving capability used across product groups.
Define and govern information architecture, taxonomy, naming, and experience rules so teams can make faster, clearer product decisions without constant bespoke reviews.
Establish and run a cross-functional HIG X-Team or guild to drive contribution pathways, decision-making, exception handling, and escalation across organizations.
Partner with design systems, Studio engineering, and product teams to convert approved guidance into machine-readable rules and evaluation criteria for scalable quality checks.
Use AI tools and automation to accelerate synthesis, change management, and validation, supporting a reliable governance release cadence and measurable adoption.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability coverage
Basic life insurance
10 paid holidays per full calendar year
Floating holiday for non-exempt employees
Paid day off for employee’s birthday
Paid year-end holiday shutdown
Four paid days off for personal wellness
Paid vacation or flexible vacation time off, depending on employee classification
80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1, with up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward
Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues
Optional 10 paid volunteer days per full calendar year
Annual bonuses for eligible non-sales employees
Performance-based incentive pay for employees on sales plans
Potential Cisco restricted stock unit grants, subject to eligibility and vesting conditions