AI Researcher PhD (Full Time) United States

Please note this posting is to advertise potential job opportunities. This exact role may not be open today but could open in the near future. When you apply, a Cisco representative may contact you directly if a relevant position opens.

Applications are accepted until further notice.

Meet the Team

At Foundation AI, we are building the Frontier AI Research Lab at Cisco. Our goal is to advance frontier AI research and translate it into purpose-built internal models, agentic systems, and security-focused capabilities that serve Cisco and the larger community. You will collaborate with researchers, engineers, and cross-functional partners across data, platform, security, evaluation, and deployment teams.

Your Impact

As an AI Researcher, you will work at the forefront of building agentic models and autonomous systems. Your research will span the full model lifecycle: data pipelines, training harnesses, evaluation harnesses, model architecture, post-training and optimization, inference, and deployment. You will advance frontier AI research by augmenting frontier models with purpose-built internal models and open-source models that we release for the larger community.

This role also focuses on security applications, helping Foundation AI establish thought leadership in security-specific models and robust agentic systems. You will investigate new architectures, new training approaches, optimization methods, and interpretability techniques, then turn research insight into reliable systems through rigorous experimentation, measurement, and collaboration.

Minimum Qualifications

• Recent graduate or in your final year of studies toward a PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related field.

• Understanding of LLM infrastructure, training, inference, and optimization,validatedby technical interview responses, project documentation, or relevant publications.

• Hands-on experience with model building, AI/LLM research, and experimentation,demonstratedthrough portfolio work, code samples, technical assessments, or documented academic or professional projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with inference engines (e.g.,vLLM, Triton,TorchServe).

• Knowledge of GPU architecture and optimization.

• Familiarity with agent frameworks.

• Exposure to cloud native solutions and platforms.

• Experience with cybersecurity principles and Python programming, including common AI libraries.

• Familiarity with distributed systems and asynchronous programming models.

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.