Software Engineer - AI and Agile Practices

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Who We Are

Today's challenging business environment is more than that - it's a period of disruption between the pandemic, global business change and internal process complexity. For us to focus on simplicity and the best customer experience, we need great talent and the right skillsets to be successful. This is now a mantra for our Cisco leadership team and for us.

The Cisco IT team is changing the way we run Cisco's operations by maximizing the power of technology, the best of business processes and superior data insights. Together, we will Reimagine the Cisco experience. Show the world how to Reinvent applications and leverage the future of the Internet to Showcase the power of Cisco: our people, products, processes, systems, and data. This includes actively adopting and leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance our capabilities, drive innovation, and deliver smarter solutions across our operations. Please join us and make this journey together!

What You'll Do

We in Network Engineering and Infrastructure organization are embracing Hybrid Cloud transformation of our Cisco IT workloads, increasing automation of our business processes to reduce time to capability and improve performance. To support this transformation, we are looking for an experienced and talented individual to expand our capabilities by adopting industry leading cloud technologies.

Responsibilities:

• Analyze and understand product requirements for workload and workflow automation needs for Cisco BU, Ops and IT

• Understand and prioritize business requirements working closely with various IT and operations functions such as supply chain, finance, data and analytics, customer & partner care organizations.

• Evaluation of next-gen Cloud and SaaS-based orchestrator & catalog platforms, build proposals, and execute implementation plans

• Act as a seasoned servant leader and coach for multiple scrum teams, fostering self-organization, continuous improvement, and adherence to Scrum values and practices.

• Proactively identify, track, and relentlessly remove impediments that hinder team progress, escalating issues appropriately to ensure smooth workflow and timely delivery.

• Champion and implement advanced Scrum and agile methodologies, including scaling frameworks (e.g., SAFe, LeSS, Scrum@Scale) where appropriate, to optimize team performance, cross-team collaboration, and overall program efficiency.

• Work closely with Product Owners, technical architects, and business stakeholders to ensure clear understanding of product requirements and strategic alignment across all teams.

• Work with internal stakeholders as well as external 3rd party solution providers to influence product requirements, product roadmap, report bugs, align strategy and escalate business impacting issues

• Mentor Product Owners, team members, and other stakeholders on agile principles and practices, fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth within and across teams.

• Work with management and other stakeholders to continually identify and implement product and solution improvements and create executive reports

• Actively guide and support scrum teams in the adoption, integration, and innovative use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and techniques to enhance automation, optimize workflows, improve data insights, and build smarter solutions.

• Promote continuous improvement by mentoring the DevOps team to use metrics to identify and measure progress

• Work with external 3rd party solution vendors to configure and test solutions, influence product requirements, report bugs and escalate business impacting issues

• Participate in technical discussions and accelerate innovation to assist with implementing newer use cases and consumption models

• Develop and deploy AI-powered applications integrating both front-end and back-end components.

• Collaborate with data scientists, machine learning engineers, and product designers to translate AI models into user-ready products.

• Design and implement scalable APIs and data pipelines to support real-time inference and analytics.

• Create functional, accessible, and visually engaging user interfaces powered by responsive design frameworks.

• Optimize system performance for speed, security, and reliability across distributed environments.

• Lead product, architecture, and design conversations with technical architects, engineers, and software developers to implement large and complex solutions focused on workload and workflow automation

Who You'll Work with

As part of the Cisco IT team, you will be working alongside engineers, Product Owners, and other agile leaders who are looking to improve the way we use automation for our workflows. You will interact with multiple scrum teams, stakeholders, and management, fostering a collaborative and high-performance environment. Our team works in a fast-paced, agile environment where you will need to be prepared to learn and adjust to new standards.

Who You Are

We're seeking a seasoned and talented individual with extensive hands-on experience as a Scrum Lead, capable of guiding multiple teams through complex deliveries. You will have a proven track record of leading large-scale agile initiatives and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, a related field, or relevant work experience.

• 2+ years of dedicated, hands-on experience as a Scrum Master or Agile Lead, specifically leading multiple scrum teams or large-scale agile programs.

• Proven ability to successfully manage and deliver multiple large, complex features or initiatives concurrently across different teams.

• 2-5 years of experience working with Public Cloud Service Provider such as AWS, GCP and Azure.

• 2-5 years of experience implementing and supporting workload automation and workflow automation platforms.

• Knowledge of relevant infrastructure and application monitoring technologies.

• Strong technical aptitude, and experience with both application and platform components.

• Detailed understanding of enterprise software development and/or infrastructure processes and lifecycle, ability to adjust and apply this knowledge in a dynamic environment using agile methodologies.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years professional experience leading or contributing to large projects, including software development, platform/infrastructure support, and operations teams.

• Advanced Scrum Master certification (e.g., A-CSM, PSM II, SAFe Scrum Master/Advanced Scrum Master, LeSS Practitioner, Scrum@Scale Practitioner).

• Demonstrated experience in coaching and mentoring Product Owners and development teams at various levels.

• Experience with implementing and optimizing scaling agile frameworks (e.g., SAFe, LeSS, Scrum@Scale).

• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts and their application in enterprise IT, automation, or data analytics.

• 2+ years hands-on Scrum lead experience in advanced, large-scale agile settings diligently applying Product Management, scrum principles, practices, and theory.

• 2+ years hands-on Systems Analytic and data manipulation/reporting

• One or more related certifications for agile methodologies.

Behavioral Competencies

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills

• Possess excellent verbal, writing, and presentation skills

• Proficient in developing interpersonal and relationships with team members

• Possess great organizational and communication skills

• Ability to work in a fast paced, agile environment

• Strong leadership, coaching, and advanced facilitation skills.

• Proven ability to resolve conflicts, navigate complex organizational dynamics, and foster a collaborative environment across multiple teams and stakeholders.

• Curiosity and a proactive approach to exploring and integrating emerging technologies, including AI, to drive business value.

At Cisco, we're revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era - and beyond. We've been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you'll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco's plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco's policies:

• 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

• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees

• Exempt employees participate in Cisco's flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)

• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco's policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;

• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;

• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and

• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco's sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.