Software Microservices Platform Engineering Lead/ AI & Agentic AI Architect (Hybrid)

We need to output HTML fragment with sections: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. Only include sections that have real specific content. We must not repeat job title. Must not include boilerplate like application window, EEO, etc. Must preserve all substantive info. We need to parse the posting. Key info: - Hybrid work model, flexible in-office schedule requiring commuting to San Jose, CA office. - Meet the Team description: DevNet team builds cloud-native platforms and AI capabilities... etc. - Your Impact: bullet points (architect and build AI and agentic AI solutions, design and operate secure microservice applications on AWS and Kubernetes, establish architectural patterns, lead design and code reviews and mentor engineers, success looks like...). - Minimum Qualifications: list of education/experience combos, plus specific years: 8+ years professional software engineering experience delivering production-quality applications using one or more languages: Python, Java, Go, or JavaScript/TypeScript. 5+ years experience designing, deploying, operating microservice-based applications on a public cloud platform such as AWS, GCP, Azure. 3+ years experience running containerized workloads in Kubernetes in production. 2+ years hands-on experience building applications with generative AI or LLMs, including at least one production system using RAG, embeddings, or tool and function calling. - Preferred Qualifications: Master's degree in CS, Engineering, or AI/ML. Experience building enterprise-scale agentic AI platforms, including agent orchestration and multi-agent workflows. Hands-on experience with agent frameworks and protocols such as LangGraph, LangChain, Model Context Protocol, or Semantic Kernel. Experience with AI security, guardrails, policy enforcement, evaluation, and observability for AI systems in production. Ability to mentor engineers and influence architecture decisions across organizational boundaries without direct authority, evidenced through patents, publications, open-source contributions, or major engineering initiatives. - Why Cisco? description: about company. - Message to applicants: salary range $214,100 to $309,800 (starting salary range for new hires in US/Canada). Also note individual pay determined by location etc. Then list full salary ranges for certain locations: New York City Metro Area $214,100 - $356,300; Non-Metro New York State & Washington State $192,400 - $317,200. Also note for quota-based sales roles etc. Not relevant? It's still compensation info. Also benefits: medical, dental, vision insurance, 401(k) with Cisco matching, paid parental leave, short/long-term disability, basic life insurance. Also mention Cisco RSUs vesting. Paid time away: 10 paid holidays + 1 floating holiday for non-exempt, 1 paid day off for birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, 4 paid days off for personal wellness, Non-exempt employees receive 16 days vacation per year accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period, Exempt employees flexible vacation time off program (no defined limit). 80 hours sick time off provided on hire date and each Jan 1, up to 80 hours unused sick time carried forward. Additional paid time away may be requested for critical/emergency family issues. Optional 10 paid days per year to volunteer. For non-sales roles, employees eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies. Employees On Sales Plans Earn Performance-based Incentive Pay... (lots of detail). This is compensation/benefits info. We need to decide sections: About the role (maybe summary of role), Responsibilities (Your Impact bullet points), Requirements (Minimum Qualifications), Qualifications (Preferred Qualifications), Skills (maybe languages, tools?), Benefits, Pay, Schedule. We must not invent sections with filler. Must include only if real specific content. We have content for About the role: maybe the "Meet the Team" and role description? Could be "About the role" includes hybrid work model, location, team description. We'll include that. Responsibilities: "Your Impact" bullet points. Requirements: Minimum Qualifications (including education/experience combos and specific years). Could be separate "Requirements" and "Qualifications"? The instruction says use headings like About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. So we need to map content accordingly. We can put: - About the role: hybrid work model, location, team description (Meet the Team paragraph). - Responsibilities: Your Impact bullet list. - Requirements: Minimum Qualifications (the education/experience combos and the specific years of experience). - Qualifications: Preferred Qualifications. - Skills: maybe list of specific technical skills: languages (Python, Java, Go, JavaScript/TypeScript), cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), Kubernetes, AI/LLM experience, agent frameworks, AI security, etc. But we already have those in Requirements and Qualifications. Might be redundant. Could combine skills into Requirements or Qualifications. But we need to decide if we have enough distinct content for Skills section. Could list core technical skills: Python/Java/Go/JS/TS, AWS/K8s, etc. However that repeats info. Might be better to omit Skills if no distinct content beyond what's already covered. The instruction: "Prefer a few substantive sections over many thin ones." So we could omit Skills if it would be thin. - Benefits: list of benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k) match, parental leave, disability, life insurance, RSUs, paid holidays, birthday, year-end shutdown, personal wellness days, vacation, sick time, volunteer days, annual bonuses). That's substantive. - Pay: salary ranges (starting range, location-specific ranges). Also mention incentive compensation details? Could include but it's compensation. We'll include Pay section with salary ranges and note that individual pay determined by location, market, etc. Also mention bonus eligibility. - Schedule: hybrid work model, flexible in-office schedule requiring commuting to San Jose, CA office. Also maybe mention flexible vacation time off program? That's more benefits. Schedule could be about work arrangement: hybrid, flexible in-office schedule. We'll include that. We must not include boilerplate like application window closing date, EEO, etc. Remove those. We must not repeat job title as heading. We must not include Job ID/requisition numbers. We must preserve all substantive information; do not invent or summarize away detail. So we need to keep details exactly as given, but we can format as lists. We need to output only HTML fragment, no /, no markdown fences. We'll produce something like:

About the role

This role involves a hybrid work model, with a flexible in-office schedule that requires commuting to the San Jose, CA office. The DevNet team builds the cloud-native platforms and AI capabilities that Cisco engineers, customers, and the wider developer community rely on every day. We take emerging AI and agentic technology and turn it into production systems rather than demonstrations, which is where most organizations still stall. The team is a small and senior group of architects and engineers who work shoulder to shoulder with product, security, and platform teams, and who own their work from architecture through live operations. Debate here is direct and technical, and the person with the better argument wins regardless of title. Agentic AI is moving faster than any technology this team has worked with, and the decisions made here shape how Cisco adopts it safely.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build AI and agentic AI solutions, including agent orchestration, tool integration, retrieval augmented generation, and autonomous workflows, so that emerging capability reaches customers as dependable product rather than experiment.
• Design and operate secure microservice applications on AWS and Kubernetes, applying a security-first approach across application, API, container, identity, and data layers to protect enterprise data as system autonomy increases.
• Establish architectural patterns and engineering practices that other teams adopt, raising the quality and speed of AI delivery well beyond this group.
• Lead design and code reviews and mentor engineers, so that sound technical judgment scales further than any one person can reach.
• Success in this role looks like agentic systems running in production with clear guardrails, measurable reliability, and engineers across the organization building on the patterns you set.

Requirements

• Bachelors and 11+ years of related experience, or Masters and 7+ years of related experience, or PhD and 3+ years of related experience, or equivalent related work experience.
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience delivering production-quality applications using one or more of the following languages: Python, Java, Go, or JavaScript/TypeScript.
• 5+ years of experience designing, deploying, and operating microservice-based applications on a public cloud platform such as AWS, GCP, and Azure.
• 3+ years of experience running containerized workloads in Kubernetes in a production environment.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience building applications with generative AI or large language models, including at least one production system using retrieval augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, or tool and function calling.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
• Experience building enterprise-scale agentic AI platforms, including agent orchestration and multi-agent workflows.
• Hands-on experience with agent frameworks and protocols such as LangGraph, LangChain, Model Context Protocol, or Semantic Kernel.
• Experience with AI security, guardrails, policy enforcement, evaluation, and observability for AI systems in production.
• Ability to mentor engineers and influence architecture decisions across organizational boundaries without direct authority, evidenced through patents, publications, open-source contributions, or major engineering initiatives.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave.
• Short and long-term disability coverage.
• Basic life insurance.
• Cisco restricted stock units (RSUs) that vest following continued employment for defined periods.
• 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.
• 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 a 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 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.
• For non‑sales roles, employees are eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.
• Employees on sales plans earn performance‑based incentive pay on top of base salary (details available in Cisco’s sales plan).

Pay

The starting salary range posted for this position is $214,100.00 to $309,800.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location