Cisco Careers

Who We Are

Outshift by Cisco is the emerging tech incubation group that explores, identifies, and creates new businesses for Cisco. We are passionate about being at the cutting edge of technology, taking Cisco into new markets and building exciting products that solve tomorrow’s biggest challenges.

Like a startup, we take an entrepreneurial approach to success. We incubate ideas into products that solve critical needs, then deliver an experience that delights users and customers from MVP to full-blown commercial offering.

Outshift is about innovation. We look from 12 months out to five years into the future, flexibly working to solve problems instead of fitting into a defined job description. We celebrate learning, and expect our teams to fail fast, challenging assumptions and finding new ways of solving problems. Outshifters enjoy gaining experience across a breadth of technological and business challenges and can expect to shift across products/problems and build new skills regularly.

We’re building the next wave of startup-like innovation with the support of a trusted name like Cisco. Where else will you get to do this? Come build with us.

Learn more about us at outshift.com

Who You’ll Work With

The Outshift team is highly visible within Cisco as it's leading the future innovation for the business. As part of the Strategy, Incubations & Applications group led by Cisco’s Chief Strategy Officer, you’ll be working with some of the organization’s most forward problem solvers.

What You'll Do

You will embark on an exhilarating journey, leading a dynamic team at the intersection of creativity and technology. Your role is pivotal in setting the pace within a fast-paced, experimental environment that celebrates the thrill of innovation and boundary-pushing with Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs). Your work will not only shape the future of AI but will also craft outstanding user experiences and lay the foundation for the next generation of Cisco's pioneering products. This opportunity is more than a job—it's an adventure in innovative technology, where your leadership in mentorship and collaboration elevates our collective brilliance, ensuring that every day is filled with the potential to innovate and inspire.

In this role, you will:

• Lead a team of applied scientists, driving forward applied machine learning initiatives and seamlessly integrating them into Cisco's product ecosystem.
• Drive the generative AI strategy, taking the helm on strategic initiatives that use the latest breakthroughs in ML/AI, including MLLMs, to set Cisco apart in a competitive landscape.
• Lead the development, implementation, and optimization of LLMs & MLLMs, focusing on training, fine-tuning, and computational advancements to deliver groundbreaking and impactful features to our users.
• Conduct research and develop innovative AI models using state-of-the-art techniques that include NLP, CV, timeseries, image, video, audio, and other modalities.
• Collaborate with peer leaders in Outshift and liaise with Cisco's Senior AI practitioners across various business groups, including Principal Engineers (PE), Distinguished Engineers (DE), and Fellows, to synchronize strategies and foster cross-departmental AI innovation.
• Mentor and elevate our team of applied scientists, instilling a culture of technical rigor and excellence in machine learning, while providing mentorship on innovative techniques and model architectures, particularly within the realm of generative AI.

Minimum Qualifications:

• PhD in machine learning, computer science, mathematics, statistics, or related quantitative fields and 7+ years of proven experience in deep learning, natural language processing & understanding, reinforcement learning OR Masters in machine learning, computer science, mathematics, statistics, or related quantitative fields and 10+ years of proven experience that includes deep learning, natural language processing & understanding, reinforcement learning.
• 7+ years exp in Java, C++, Python, and other related languages.
• Practical experience in developing, training, deploying, evaluating AI models in real-world applications and knowledge of deep learning frameworks.
• Proven experience in (multimodal) large language models, natural language processing, computer vision, image processing, and generative AI techniques.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Depth and breadth in state-of-the-art machine learning technologies like LLMs and MLLMs.
• Highly driven leader that is known to deliver in high growth and highly dynamic environments.
• Advocate for creative technical trends. Acknowledged for driving decisions collaboratively, resolving challenges, ensuring follow through.
• Outstandingly resourceful & rigorous and can operate optimally among forward-thinking and charismatic people.
• Equally comfortable and capable interacting with technologists as with business executives.