# Lead Machine Learning Engineer , AI Defense (Hybrid) at Cisco

- Company: Cisco
- What the company does: Cisco is a worldwide technology leader powering an inclusive future for all. Learn more about our products, services, solutions, and innovations. Backed by Sequoia and Menlo.
- Company website: https://www.cisco.com/
- Type: Startups (AI role)
- Level: Senior
- Location: Milpitas, California, US
- Work setup: On-site
- Posted: 2026-10-29
- Apply by: 2026-12-13
- Apply: https://cisco.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Cisco_Careers/job/Milpitas-California-US/Lead-Machine-Learning-Engineer---AI-Defense--Hybrid-_2028766?utm_source=1752vc&utm_medium=careers
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/cisco-lead-machine-learning-engineer-ai-defense-hybrid/

## About the role

As a Technical Lead, you will serve as a hands-on technical authority for AI Defense, owning the systems that detect, validate and stop threats to AI. You will drive hard design and implementation challenges, from low-latency LLM inference at scale to secure deployments in customer environments. Your work will set the engineering standards for the team and directly shape how Cisco secures AI for its customers. Found on 1752vc Careers, the job board for startup and VC roles.

## What they're looking for

- Bachelor's in Computer Science and 10+ years or Master's and 8+ years or PHD and 3+ years of software engineering experience, including architecting and delivering large-scale distributed systems
- Experience with cloud-native backend development and modern cloud infrastructure
- Prior experience with technical leadership across teams while remaining hands-on


Source: 1752vc Careers, https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/cisco-lead-machine-learning-engineer-ai-defense-hybrid/