Leader, Semiconductor Product Engineering

This role with be hybrid from one of Cisco offices in San Jose, CA, Carlsbad, CA, Holmdel, NJ or Maynard, MA

Meet the Team

Optics Operations Product Engineering team partners with cross-functional team of developing engineers to design and sustain Optical transceiver components and modules throughout their product lifecycle. Product Engineers are self-motivated, result oriented, and strong-minded engineers who adopt creativity and new ways of thinking to deliver innovative solutions.

Your Impact

Optics Operations is an organization that enables and accelerates innovation to create an unrivaled customer experience & competitive advantage for Cisco through end-to-end operation leadership and product lifecycle managements. As part of Optics Operations, you will lead and mentor a team of talented product engineers, driving AI-driven process transformation, automated yield intelligence, and Design-for-Manufacturing (DFM/DFx) methodologies within our silicon and component product portfolio. You will partner closely with engineering leaders, fab foundries, OSAT partners, and design teams to deliver breakthrough quality, maximize wafer and component yields, and ensure scalable supply chain resilience.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Lead an engineering team to deliver state-of-the-art semiconductor wafer products meeting Cisco quality and performance standards

• Partner with cross-functional teams (design, foundry, IC packaging, test, reliability) to exceed yield, quality, and costs targets.

• Lead the product engineering team to drive yield & Quality, implement DFx principles and manage products from initial silicon to high volume manufacturing (HVM)

• Collaborate with design & test teams to establish manufacturing and test strategies, including DFT implementation, test hardware specs, and test program creation

• Deliver AI-Driven process transformation to continuously improve quality, yield, and cost through test time reduction and root-cause analysis across design, fab, and packaging

• Create and execute strategies leveraging AI-powered analytics to streamline product development, accelerate failure identification, and enhance yield management

• Coach and upskill junior to senior engineers, fostering technical capabilities and an AI-driven mindset to maximize productivity and efficiency

Minimum Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Optical Physics, Photonics, or related engineering fields

• 10+ years of semiconductor industry experience (mmWave, DSP, Silicon Photonics) as a technical lead, including 5+ years of direct people leadership

• Technical expertise in semiconductor fabrication processes, wafer sort/probe testing, and advanced packaging (2.5D/3D, flip-chip, optical interconnect)

• Proven mentoring skills with the ability to inspire and develop engineers across career stages, fostering accountability and continuous learning

• Hands-on mastery of Statistical Process Control (SPC), Design of Experiments, Six Sigma methodologies, and yield management software (e.g., JMP, Spotfire)

• Strategic mindset with deep silicon engineering expertise to guide engineering teams through complex projects

• Direct experience managing technical deliverables with leading foundry ecosystems and OSAT partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Python, machine learning libraries, or enterprise AI tools to automate semiconductor yield learning, test pattern generation, or anomaly detection

• Strong executive communication and stakeholder management skills, with proven ability to navigate complex matrix organizations and resolve high-stakes vendor defects

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 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.