Principal Hardware Engineer
About The Position
Cisco’s Networking Hardware Engineering team develops hardware platforms for switching, routing, wireless, AI servers, and optical products. The Principal Hardware Engineer will define and lead end-to-end quality strategy for next-generation hyperscale platforms, from architecture and development through qualification, high-volume production, and customer deployment. The role leads complex product-quality investigations and customer cases, driving root-cause analysis, containment, corrective actions, and verification of effectiveness. It also serves as a senior technical point of contact for critical customer issues involving deployment, interoperability, reliability, performance, and system integration across Cisco and third-party products. The position establishes quality and reliability practices across silicon, high-speed SerDes, optics, PCB, power, thermal, mechanical, firmware, diagnostics, and network operating systems. It drives system-level failure analysis and risk reviews, turns field, customer, and manufacturing findings into preventive improvements, and leads quality readiness for emerging Ethernet platforms and optical solutions. The engineer partners with hyperscale customers, strengthens qualification and production-monitoring plans, influences cross-functional teams and senior leaders, mentors engineers, and represents Cisco in strategic customer and industry engagements. This role is onsite at Cisco’s San Jose, California office. Up to 10% local and/or international travel may be required. The application window is expected to close on November 27, 2026.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science and 15+ years of experience; or a master’s degree in one of these fields and 12+ years of experience; or a PhD in one of these fields and 10+ years of related experience, such as networking, switching, optics, or data-center infrastructure.
- Experience leading quality, reliability, systems engineering, or customer issue resolution for complex, high-volume networking, switching, optical, or hyperscale data-center products.
- Experience driving complex technical investigations from customer symptom and data collection through root-cause identification, corrective action, and verification of effectiveness.
- Experience with Ethernet switching and optical communication technologies, including switch ASICs, high-speed SerDes, signal integrity, optical modules, DSPs, link budgets, and system validation.
- Experience leading multifunctional responses to critical customer cases, field partner concerns, product defects, or interoperability issues.
Nice To Haves
- Strong judgment in assessing product risk and prioritizing actions, with the ability to influence engineering teams, customers, and executive partners.
- Experience with quality and reliability across fixed, modular, chassis-based, or disaggregated switching platforms.
- Knowledge of hyperscale data-center architectures, AI/ML fabrics, scale-out networks, and distributed systems.
- Experience with silicon photonics, coherent optics, linear-drive optics, near-packaged/co-packaged optics, or optical switching.
- Familiarity with SONiC, Linux-based network operating systems, SAI, platform firmware, telemetry, diagnostics, and fleet automation.
- Experience using field, manufacturing, and test data to identify emerging quality trends and drive preventive improvements.
- Contributions to industry standards, patents, or publications, with recognized technical leadership in networking quality or optical systems.
Responsibilities
- Define and drive end-to-end quality strategy for next-generation switching, routing, wireless access point, AI server, and optical platforms from architecture through customer deployment.
- Lead resolution of complex product-quality issues and customer cases, coordinating engineering, manufacturing, operations, and customer teams to identify root causes, contain impact, and deliver lasting corrective actions.
- Serve as a senior technical point of contact for critical customer issues involving deployment, interoperability, reliability, performance, and system integration across Cisco and third-party products.
- Establish quality and reliability practices across silicon, high-speed SerDes, optics, PCB, power, thermal, mechanical, firmware, diagnostics, and network operating systems.
- Drive system-level failure analysis and risk reviews, translating field data, customer feedback, and manufacturing findings into preventive actions.
- Lead quality readiness for emerging Ethernet platforms, including pluggable, linear-drive, and near-packaged/co-packaged optical solutions.
- Partner directly with hyperscale customers to understand operational requirements, resolve quality concerns, and build confidence in product readiness, reliability, and serviceability.
- Define and strengthen qualification, validation, diagnostics, and production-monitoring plans to detect issues early and reduce recurrence in deployed systems.
- Influence multifunctional teams and senior leaders on quality priorities, product risk, and corrective-action plans.
- Mentor engineers and represent Cisco in strategic customer and industry engagements.
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
- Restricted stock unit grants may be available, subject to continued employment and vesting terms
- 10 paid holidays per full calendar year
- One floating holiday for non-exempt employees
- Paid birthday day off
- Paid year-end holiday shutdown
- Four paid personal wellness days
- Paid vacation or flexible vacation time off, depending on employee classification
- 80 hours of sick time off on hire and each January 1, with up to 80 unused hours 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 may be available for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco policies
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
