Software Engineer NextGen AI Search
About The Position
The Software Engineer will contribute to engineering efforts for Cisco’s AI Platforms and Enablement team, which builds and scales CIRCUIT, an enterprise AI platform intended to reduce information silos and improve productivity through intelligent, agentic experiences. The role specializes in search infrastructure and data engineering, supporting the CIRCUIT ecosystem from data ingestion and indexing through generative AI workflows. The engineer will build and optimize data ingestion pipelines with Dataflow (Apache Beam), configure and tune Elasticsearch, develop re-ranking algorithms, and improve search relevancy measurements. The role also involves building AI agents, deploying and managing services on GCP with Kubernetes, and implementing retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines with LLMs. The engineer writes maintainable Python, participates in code reviews, and collaborates in Agile ceremonies.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- At least 5 years of professional software engineering experience focused on backend, data, or search systems.
- At least 2 years of hands-on experience designing and operating Elasticsearch in a production environment.
- Demonstrated experience delivering production-grade software in a cloud environment using Kubernetes.
- Proficiency in Python and experience building robust data pipelines using Dataflow (Apache Beam).
Nice To Haves
- Experience designing and implementing hybrid search architectures combining semantic (vector-based) and keyword (BM25) results.
- Exposure to MCP (Model Context Protocol) and experience connecting LLMs to external data sources.
- Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or Claude.
- Strong analytical ability to understand and measure relevancy and quantify improvements to search quality.
- Experience building and consuming REST APIs and collaborating with stakeholders and engineering teams to solve complex technical hurdles.
Responsibilities
- Build and optimize data ingestion pipelines using Dataflow (Apache Beam).
- Implement and tune Elasticsearch configurations.
- Develop re-ranking algorithms and improve search relevancy measurements.
- Build and refine AI agents.
- Deploy and manage services on GCP using Kubernetes.
- Work with LLMs to implement RAG pipelines.
- Write clean, maintainable Python code.
- Participate in code reviews and Agile ceremonies.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams.
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
- Paid holidays
- Floating holiday for non-exempt employees
- Paid birthday day off
- Paid year-end holiday shutdown
- Paid personal wellness days
- Paid vacation time for non-exempt employees
- Flexible vacation time off program for eligible exempt employees
- Sick time off
- Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues
- Optional paid volunteer days
- Annual bonuses for eligible non-sales roles
- Potential grants of Cisco restricted stock units
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
