Technical Leader - CX Engineering Productivity

Cisco•Knoxville, TN

2d•$172,100 - $244,200

About The Position

The Engineering Productivity team makes Cisco CX Engineering faster, safer, and more effective at scale. We own the developer platform, build and test infrastructure, CI/CD, developer tooling, and AI-assisted development — the systems every engineer touches from the first keystroke to production. We eliminate toil, shorten feedback loops, and build paved roads that engineers choose because they're the fastest way to ship. We're the connective tissue across Platform, Application, Product, Security, and Operations, and we bridge those silos through deep technical expertise, strong relationships, and a relentless focus on developer experience. If you thrive where your work directly determines how quickly and confidently engineers build, test, and release software — including AI/ML systems — and where you can shape technical strategy across the organization, this is the team for you. As an Engineering Productivity Technical Leader, you'll serve as a key technical liaison and force multiplier across the organization: Strategic Leadership Drive Productivity Strategy: Shape technical strategy across the developer platform, CI/CD, build and test infrastructure, tooling, and AI-assisted development — aligning initiatives with business objectives in an AI-first world. Build Bridges: Connect Platform, Application, Product, Security, and Operations to find and remove the friction that slows engineers down, delivering solutions that transcend organizational boundaries. Champion a Productivity Culture: Evangelize measurement (DORA, SPACE), golden paths, and continuous improvement of the developer experience across traditional and AI/ML workflows. Technical Excellence Build the Internal Developer Platform: Design self-service platforms, golden paths, and paved roads that let teams provision, build, and deploy without waiting on anyone. Optimize the Inner Loop: Deliver fast local and cloud development environments, dev containers, and quick feedback so engineers spend less time waiting and more time building. Modernize CI/CD and Build Systems: Deliver fast, reliable pipelines with build caching and incremental builds, merge queues, and quality gates that catch problems early without slowing delivery. Instrument Developer Productivity: Establish metrics and observability for the whole software delivery lifecycle — DORA metrics, cycle time, build and test health, and DevEx signals — so decisions are grounded in data. Integrate AI into Development: Bring AI code assistants, AI-assisted review, test generation, and agentic development workflows into the everyday toolchain to accelerate productivity. Ensure Platform Reliability: Keep the productivity platform, CI/CD, and developer tooling themselves resilient and performant, with ambitious availability targets for the systems engineers depend on daily. Influence & Collaboration Partner Externally: Build relationships with vendors, open-source communities, and industry peers to stay ahead of emerging tools and bring innovations to Cisco. Partner Internally: Build relationships across Platform, Application, Security, Operations, and Product teams to understand technical and business needs. Gather and prioritize requirements from engineering and security stakeholders, run feedback loops on developer experience and tooling adoption, and lead technical reviews and knowledge-sharing initiatives to drive continuous improvement in productivity, automation, and quality. Mentor & Develop: Provide technical leadership and coaching, elevating capabilities in platform engineering, developer experience, and automation. Stay Future-Ready: Keep abreast of emerging trends in developer productivity, platform engineering, build systems, and AI-assisted and agentic development. Be ready to rapidly implement and iterate on cutting-edge solutions that make engineers more productive.

Requirements

10+ years in engineering productivity, developer platforms, DevOps, build/release, or infrastructure engineering with demonstrated technical leadership progression
BS or MS in Engineering, STEM or related field
Proven track record designing and implementing developer platforms, tooling, or CI/CD and build systems that serve multiple teams

Nice To Haves

Experience building internal developer platforms, platform-as-a-service offerings, or developer portals (e.g., Backstage)
Experience in productivity measurement and delivery practices, including DORA metrics, SLOs, quality gates, and CI/CD
Cross-organizational influence with the ability to build consensus and drive adoption of technical strategies and tooling
Expertise with CI/CD and GitOps platforms (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, ArgoCD, Flux) and modern build systems (Bazel, monorepo tooling, remote/build caching)
Depth in test infrastructure — fast and reliable test suites, flaky-test management, and test observability
Proficiency with IaC tools (Terraform, CloudFormation) and cloud-native platforms (Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP)
Proficiency in Python, Go, or Java with strong scripting and automation skills
Experience instrumenting the SDLC with observability tooling (Splunk, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana) for build, test, and delivery health
Hands-on experience integrating AI-assisted and agentic development tools (code assistants, AI-driven review, test generation) into engineering workflows
Familiarity with DevEx research methods (developer surveys, SPACE framework) to quantify and improve developer experience
Strong communication skills with the ability to influence technical decisions across organizational levels

Responsibilities

Shape technical strategy across the developer platform, CI/CD, build and test infrastructure, tooling, and AI-assisted development — aligning initiatives with business objectives in an AI-first world.
Connect Platform, Application, Product, Security, and Operations to find and remove the friction that slows engineers down, delivering solutions that transcend organizational boundaries.
Evangelize measurement (DORA, SPACE), golden paths, and continuous improvement of the developer experience across traditional and AI/ML workflows.
Design self-service platforms, golden paths, and paved roads that let teams provision, build, and deploy without waiting on anyone.
Deliver fast local and cloud development environments, dev containers, and quick feedback so engineers spend less time waiting and more time building.
Deliver fast, reliable pipelines with build caching and incremental builds, merge queues, and quality gates that catch problems early without slowing delivery.
Establish metrics and observability for the whole software delivery lifecycle — DORA metrics, cycle time, build and test health, and DevEx signals — so decisions are grounded in data.
Bring AI code assistants, AI-assisted review, test generation, and agentic development workflows into the everyday toolchain to accelerate productivity.
Keep the productivity platform, CI/CD, and developer tooling themselves resilient and performant, with ambitious availability targets for the systems engineers depend on daily.
Build relationships with vendors, open-source communities, and industry peers to stay ahead of emerging tools and bring innovations to Cisco.
Build relationships across Platform, Application, Security, Operations, and Product teams to understand technical and business needs.
Gather and prioritize requirements from engineering and security stakeholders, run feedback loops on developer experience and tooling adoption, and lead technical reviews and knowledge-sharing initiatives to drive continuous improvement in productivity, automation, and quality.
Provide technical leadership and coaching, elevating capabilities in platform engineering, developer experience, and automation.
Keep abreast of emerging trends in developer productivity, platform engineering, build systems, and AI-assisted and agentic development.
Be ready to rapidly implement and iterate on cutting-edge solutions that make engineers more productive.

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
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 on top of their base salary (for sales roles)