Technical Lead- Escalation Engineer

About the Role

Join the team focused on AI and SAN solutions, including testing and certifications for FICON, SAN, and MDS products. This role requires deep relationship-building skills with partners and collaboration with Marketing, Development, and Test teams at Cisco and the partner. You will execute certification testing and troubleshooting, both internally and partner-facing. The role involves creating technical documentation for the team and contributing to user documentation for end users. You will troubleshoot issues, file bugs, and support customers as needed. Additionally, you will bring innovative ideas for product improvement and usability, leveraging AI tools to streamline repetitive tasks and create assistive tools or agents.

Impact

• Use specialized expertise in FICON, SAN, MDS, and AI to test and certify code, troubleshoot issues, and recommend best practices.
• Solve complex problems and identify innovative solutions with a broad perspective.
• Drive complex certifications to completion and lead projects spanning multiple teams.
• Influence software and hardware engineering roadmaps and guide the development and implementation of software.
• Lead and mentor others, improving the technical design of solutions.
• Advocate for new product features to address customer needs and articulate design choices based on market awareness and competition.
• Innovate new products, ideas, features, and tools to meet unmet customer needs.
• Influence and track metrics to measure success.
• Write clean, standardized tests and influence architectural decisions with a focus on security, scalability, and reliability.
• Contribute to threat modeling and protection of the SAN and AI portfolios.
• Proactively identify, prioritize, and resolve risks and issues in production systems.
• Design and implement robust monitoring tools for visibility and reliability, acting on data and alerts to improve future performance.
• Lead postmortems, review root cause analysis, and ensure on-call coverage.
• Contribute to knowledge sharing in the wider professional community through technical blogs or publications.
• Scope work accurately and provide reliable estimates for project milestones and completion.
• Communicate delivery trade-offs and negotiate with cross-functional partners to align on direction and outcomes.
• Mentor peers and facilitate knowledge sharing within the team (e.g., brown bags, demos, design sessions).

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree + 8 years of related experience, or Master’s + 6 years, or PhD + 3 years, or equivalent years of technology work experience.
• In-depth experience in SAN and Fibre Channel.

Preferred Qualifications

• Tool development work (AI, monitoring, telemetry, SAN insights, etc.).
• Strong communication skills to engage effectively with key customers and articulate complex issues clearly.
• Demonstrated experience handling customer issues.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era and beyond. With 40 years of fearless innovation, we create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across physical and digital worlds. Our solutions provide unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint. Fueled by our technology’s depth and breadth, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Our global network of doers and experts ensures opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We collaborate with empathy to make a significant impact on a global scale.

Pay

The starting salary range for this position is $151,600.00 to $222,400.00 for new hires in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and training. Below are the full salary ranges for specific locations:

• New York City Metro Area: $186,900.00 - $307,800.00
• Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $166,300.00 - $274,100.00

For quota-based sales roles, the ranges include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance.
• Eligibility for grants of Cisco restricted stock units, vesting over time with continued employment.
• Paid time away, including:
  • 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees.
  • 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday and a paid year-end holiday shutdown.
  • 4 paid days off for personal wellness.
  • Non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period.
  • Exempt employees participate in a flexible vacation time off program with no defined limit (subject to business limitations).
  • 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, with up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward.
  • Additional paid time away for critical or emergency family issues.
  • Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.
• Eligibility for annual bonuses (subject to Cisco’s policies).
• For sales roles, performance-based incentive pay split between quota and non-quota components.

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