Corporate Counsel: Open Source (Hybrid)

The application window is expected to close on: 12/12/25

Location preferences for NC, TX, IL, GA, CO.

Members of the Legal organization at select locations will generally be expected to follow a hybrid work model, which includes two days of in-office attendance each week, with limited exceptions.

Meet the Team:

Cisco Legal is a global, multidisciplinary team of attorneys and legal professionals. We work closely across all aspects of Cisco to provide practical legal solutions while building creative, innovative technologies for customers worldwide. The Open Innovation Legal team partners directly with engineering teams and other legal teams to shape how Cisco contributes to and benefits from the open source ecosystem.

Your Impact:

You'll be a trusted advisor to engineering teams navigating the intersection of open source software, AI technologies, and intellectual property. This role is perfect for a curious attorney who gets passionate about understanding how technology works and translating between legal requirements and engineering realities. You'll have the opportunity to work on complex and evolving legal issues at the intersection of open source software, AI technologies, and intellectual property. We value curiosity over credentials and believe the best legal advice comes from truly understanding the technology. You'll learn from industry-leading open source legal experts and contribute to the legal strategies that shape Cisco's engagement with the open source community. We are looking for someone who sees legal as enabling innovation, not blocking it and can build trust through technical credibility and practical solutions.

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with engineering teams to understand their technical goals and provide practical legal guidance on open source usage, contribution, and compliance.

• Review open source projects technical documentation to identify and assess legal risks.

• Contribute to the development and implementation of scalable processes and self-service resources for common open source and open AI legal questions.

• Support M&A due diligence on open source and IP matters in technology transactions.

• Stay current on emerging issues at the intersection of AI and open source, including model licensing, training data, and AI-generated code.

• Build relationships within the open source community and understand ecosystem dynamics.

• Work independently to manage a portfolio of matters with minimal direction.

Minimum Qualifications:

• JD from an accredited law school and active bar membership

• 2-5 years of legal experience

• Strong organizational skills and ability to handle multiple projects independently

• Excellent communication skills with ability to explain complex legal concepts to non-legal audiences

• Demonstrated intellectual curiosity and comfort learning new technologies

• Experience with legal risk assessment and practical problem-solving

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with engineering teams or technical clients

• Understanding of copyright law and software licensing

• Familiarity with GitHub, Huggingface or other development tools

• Demonstrated use of AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot) in legal practice

• Experience with any of the following: patent law, trademarks, M&A due diligence, or compliance programs

• Technical background (CS degree, coding bootcamp, or self-taught programming)

• Personal interest in technology

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.