Automation AI Ops Engineer Hybrid

Hybrid — Onsite 3 days per week in Raleigh (Research Triangle Park), NC or San Jose, CA.

About the Team

Our team is part of the Cisco AI and Automation portfolio, responsible for the "Circuit" platform—the central AI engine that powers productivity and process automation across all of Cisco. We are a rapidly expanding, high-impact group operating at the intersection of applied research and production, delivering performance, reliability, and functional quality for 80,000+ monthly users.

Responsibilities

• AI-Driven Regression: Architect and drive AI-based automation strategies to replace manual QA, ensuring comprehensive regression coverage for the entire Circuit platform.
• Modernizing Legacy Features: Utilize AI agents to modernize existing features, generating and maintaining accurate regression suites for legacy codebases.
• Agentic Workflow Development: Build and refine workflows where AI agents generate code that passes automated validation and is successfully merged into the main production branch.
• Quality Validation: Establish robust validation frameworks to ensure that AI-generated artifacts meet Cisco’s high standards for functional quality, security, and performance.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Act as a "Team Captain" for automation initiatives, influencing peers and collaborating with engineering teams to integrate automated testing into the core development lifecycle.

Requirements

• Education & Experience:
  • Bachelor’s degree with 6+ years of related experience
  • Master’s degree with 4+ years of related experience
  • PhD with 1+ year of related experience in Computer Science, AI/ML, or a related technical field
• Automation Expertise: Proven experience in test automation and regression framework development, with a deep understanding of functional quality assurance.
• AI-Assisted Coding: Hands-on experience using tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or Claude Code to build, validate, and deploy production-level software while auditing auto-generated code for stability and security standards.
• Software Engineering: Solid conceptual and practical knowledge of the SDLC, including CI/CD pipelines and automated testing best practices.
• Critical Thinking: Strong ability to evaluate technical trade-offs between manual and automated testing strategies.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in AI Ops, MLOps, or building/fine-tuning custom LLMs.
• Proven track record of leading technical projects and mentoring junior engineers.
• Experience applying Design Thinking principles to AI-driven user experiences.
• Hands-on experience with real-time AI workload management and token optimization strategies.
• Experience building and productizing agentic applications with a focus on evaluation and business acceptance.

Pay

Projected Starting Base Salary: $199,700 – $254,600 (excludes bonuses, equity, or location-based adjustments)

• New York City Metro Area: $199,700 – $292,800
• Non-Metro NY & Washington State: $174,500 – $260,500

Benefits

• Health & Financial: Medical, dental, vision insurance, 401(k) with company matching contribution, restricted stock units (RSUs), and annual incentive bonus program.
• Paid Time Away:
  • Exempt Employees: Flexible vacation time off program (no defined limit).
  • Holidays & Shutdowns: 10 paid holidays + 1 floating holiday, birthday off, year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 personal wellness days.
  • Sick & Care Leave: 80 hours of sick time provided upon hire (up to 80 hours carryover annually).
  • Volunteer Time: 10 paid days per year for volunteer work.

About Cisco

At Cisco, we’ve been innovating for 40 years to connect and protect organizations in the AI era and beyond. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make big things happen on a global scale.