Hardware Engineering Technical Leader

Meet the Team

The CommonHardware Group (CHG) creates innovativehardware platforms central to the AI era,powering Cisco’s coreSwitching, Routing, andWirelessproducts for organizations globally. Our innovations in silicon, optics, andhardware platforms—like Silicon One—are shaping thetechnology industry. We're a global team of creative experts,bringing our unique backgrounds and bold ideas to push boundaries and help each other grow. Because fullproduct development—fromdesign to qualification toproduction—is within our team, we’re able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly. Join us topower the future of the digital world.

Cisco Silicon One is the only unifying silicon architecture in the market that enables customers to deploy the best-of-breed silicon from Top of Rack (TOR)switches through web-scale data centers and across service providers, enterprise networks, and data centers with a fully unified routing andswitching portfolio. Come join us and take part in shaping Cisco's ground-breaking solutions bydesigning, developing, andtesting some of the most complexASICs being developed in the industry.

The Cisco Service Provider RoutingHardwareEngineering team develops next-generationhardware by adhering to IEEE standards and industry best practices. Ourengineers drive innovation across the fullproduct lifecycle, serving as IP architects, creators, and solution integrators who manageproducts fromconcept toproduction.

Wedesign a new class of high-performancerouters for the Internet of the future: Cisco 8000 Seriesrouters. These cloud-enhanced systems arepowered by Cisco Silicon OneASICs and deliver the scale, performance, and efficiency required by criticalinfrastructure. You will collaborate withboarddesign,ASIC, signal integrity,power, software, mechanical,thermal,manufacturing, systems, and supplier teams to define,design,validate, and release high-performancenetworkingproducts.

Your Impact

As a LeadHardwareBoardDesignEngineer, you will be a recognized technical leader for aproduct. You will apply deephardware expertise to define architecture, lead complexproduct initiatives, resolve difficult technical issues, and guideengineers across disciplines. This is an individual contributor role with broad technical influence; it does not require people management but demands technical independence, sound judgment, visible ownership, and leadership across teams. As a LeadHardwareBoardDesignEngineer, you will be responsible for:

• Definingboard-level architecture,technology choices,power-delivery strategy, anddesign direction for complexnetworkingproducts.
• Leading majorhardware initiatives from requirements and architecture throughvalidation, qualification, andmanufacturing release.
• Solving novel or high-risk signal integrity,power integrity, reliability,thermal, andmanufacturing challenges.
• Actively participating indesign reviews, architecture discussions, cross-functional technical investigations, and laboratory work.
• Guiding teams to clear, data-driven decisions.
• Mentoringengineers and improvinghardware delivery processes.
• Establishing practicaldesign methods, constraints,verification strategies, and quality improvements.
• Partnering with silicon vendors,PCB fabricators, contract manufacturers, and other suppliers on technical tradeoffs andproduct execution.
• Communicating technical risks, alternatives, and recommendations to seniorstakeholders.
• Contributing toproduct-linetechnology roadmaps.
• Owning thedesign andvalidation of a sub-system.
• Ensuringdesigns meetfunctional specifications.
• Participating as a valuable team member in cross-functional meetings, specification creation, and technical documentation.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in ElectricalEngineering orComputerEngineering and 7+ years of experience, or Master’s in ElectricalEngineering orComputerEngineering and 5+ years of related experience, or PhD in ElectricalEngineering orComputerEngineering and 2+ years of related experience.
• Experience withhardwareboarddesign and system-level development, including high-speed digitaldesign, signal integrity,power integrity, andhardwarevalidation using lab equipment such asoscilloscopes,logic analyzers, and spectrum analyzers.
• Experience with takingboarddesigns fromconcept throughproduction, includingschematics generation, layouts,troubleshooting, and hands-on use ofdesign tools such asCadenceConcept andAllegro.
• Experience withnetworking, server,computer, or high-performanceembedded systems, including technologies such as high-speedEthernet,PCIe,DDR, SerDes, advanced packaging, multi-phasepower conversion,thermal management, EMI/EMC.
• Experience with leading technicalprojects orprograms, partnering with silicon vendors, fabricators, contract manufacturers, ortechnology suppliers, and leading multi-siteengineering teams or cross-functional tiger teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Methodical, analytical approach to problem solving, experience with breaking down complex issues, evaluating evidence, and documenting clear conclusions and next steps.
• Experience withnetworkingproductsdesign.
• Experience with co-packaged optics, near-packaged optics, or optical and signal-integritybudget analysis.
• Experience creatingtest scripts inPython.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.

Why Cisco? 

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. 

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

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 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 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.