Distinguished Engineer - Chief Architect
Cisco · San Jose, CA · Product and Engineering
About this role
Cisco is hiring a principal-level Principal Engineer in the software engineering function based in San Jose, CA. The posting calls out experience with AWS, GCP, Azure, LLMs. Compensation is listed at $273,200–$384,800 per year.
- Role
- Principal Engineer
- Function
- software engineering
- Level
- principal
- Track
- Tech leadership
- Employment
- Full-time
- Location
- San Jose, CA
- Department
- Product and Engineering
- Posted
- Apr 21, 2026
More roles at Cisco
Job description
from Cisco careersJob posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Meet the Team
The AI Platforms and Enablement team is the engine behind Cisco’s internal AI transformation. Our mission is to build and scale CIRCUIT, Cisco’s universal enterprise AI platform designed to collapse information silos and amplify productivity through intelligent, agentic experiences.
CIRCUIT is more than a platform—it is the foundation for how Cisco will reimagine work through secure, scalable AI. Our team combines platform development with enterprise enablement, ensuring that business units can adopt AI capabilities, integrate proprietary data, and transform legacy workflows into intelligent, autonomous experiences.
The organization operates through an Eight-Pillar CIRCUIT model spanning Platform Engineering, Solutions Engineering, Process Engineering, Product Management, UX Design, Technical Program Management, Innovation & Advanced Architecture, and Strategy & Operations. Together, these pillars balance specialized execution with multi-functional collaboration to move from invention to production at enterprise scale.
Within this model, Innovation & Advanced Architecture serve as the Invention Lab. This team works on solving Cisco’s most complex AI architecture challenges, incubating breakthrough capabilities, and establishing the path from invention to production-ready platform features.
Your Impact