Applied AI Researcher

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

Join Cisco's AI Platform Team to shape the future of enterprise AI. We're building next-generation infrastructure that powers intelligent, secure, and scalable AI solutions across Cisco's ecosystem-from advancing Small Language Model capabilities and building Agentic frameworks to ensuring trustworthy AI deployment at scale.

You'll join as a core member of our team, working with AI researchers, data scientists, and engineers to transform research into real business impact. In this role, you'll translate cutting-edge AI research into production solutions for internal business units and external customers. If you're passionate about solving hard technical problems and shaping how AI transforms the enterprise, this is where you'll make it happen.

As an Applied AI Researcher, you will bridge research and customer value by building custom AI models for enterprise use cases and driving customer projects with real business impact.

• Lead customer projects end-to-end: Own customer engagements from discovery to production-ready models with measurable business impact, serving as the primary point of contact for customers in US time zones.
• Build and fine-tune domain models: Design, train, and fine-tune Small Language Models for network troubleshooting, security log analysis, compliance detection, and customer service automation using state-of-the-art techniques.
• Customer engagement: Conduct demos, technical deep-dives, workshops, and hands-on support-helping customers prepare data, train models, evaluate performance, and deploy solutions.
• Translate research to practice: Stay current with the latest developments in AI (LLMs, SLMs, multi-modal models) and partner with AI researchers to apply advanced techniques to practical business solutions.

• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or related technical field with 3+ years of experience in applied AI/ML research or engineering, OR BS with 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Strong hands-on experience building, training, and fine-tuning machine learning models, particularly language models.
• Proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, or Hugging Face Transformers.
• Experience with model fine-tuning techniques such as LoRA, QLoRA, PEFT, instruction tuning, or supervised fine-tuning.
• Demonstrated ability to work directly with customers, stakeholders, or cross-functional teams to understand requirements and deliver solutions.
• Strong communication skills-able to explain complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences, and comfortable presenting demos and leading technical discussions.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple concurrent projects, and deliver results in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.

• Publications in top AI conferences such as ACL, EMNLP, ICLR, ICML, NAACL, or NeurIPS.
• Experience with Small Language Models, efficient architectures, or model compression techniques.
• Familiarity with networking, cybersecurity, observability, or IT operations domains.
• Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), prompt engineering, and advanced evaluation methodologies.
• Track record of shipping ML models in production or delivering customer-facing AI solutions.

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.