# Director, Physical AI at Cisco

Cisco is hiring a Director, Physical AI in San Jose, United States. It pays $230k-$291k a year and Level rates it Little AI ●○○○; you can [apply on Cisco](https://jobsbylevel.com/go/63065fe6-a99d-41f5-9c2e-486573a54019?utm_medium=ai-agent).

AI Level 1, AI centrality 13 out of 100. San Jose, California, US.

## Details

- Company: [Cisco](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/cisco)
- AI level: AI Level 1 (score 13 out of 100)
- Location: San Jose, California, US
- Salary: $230k-$291k
- Posted: October 20, 2026
- Apply: https://jobsbylevel.com/go/63065fe6-a99d-41f5-9c2e-486573a54019?utm_medium=ai-agent

## Prepare for this job

The job page lists 2 likely interview questions for this offer, with a CV checklist: https://jobsbylevel.com/jobs/director-physical-ai-at-cisco-f34301

## Description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/29/2026 Meet the Team Cisco's Enterprise AI Platforms & Infrastructure (EAIPI) organization is establishing a Physical AI and Common Services engineering field to extend autonomous intelligence from software agents into the physical enterprise environment. As Cisco scales its AI foundation across global campuses, critically important data centers, and executive briefing facilities, physical robotics represents the next critical frontier in autonomous operations, physical security, and facilities intelligence. We enable and provide leadership for the development, design, and optimization of information technology, robotics, and edge systems functions supporting company business processes and technical information systems platforms. In this role, you will direct the analysis, selection, and modification of enterprise systems, application software, network hardware/software integration, and database management, ensuring infrastructure architecture standards improve efficiency, platform compatibility, and uninterrupted service. You will select, develop, and evaluate personnel to ensure efficient operations and facilitate the integration of third-party platforms into enterprise IT services while protecting Cisco’s data, tools, and information systems. We are seeking an exceptionally technical Director of Physical AI and Common Services to lead the end-to-end strategy, technical architecture, mechatronic modifications, and software engineering for our quadrupedal and bipedal robotic fleets, bridging on-chassis edge AI compute with Cisco's enterprise AI fabric. Your Impact As the Director of Physical AI and Common Services, you will have comprehensive ownership across hardware customization, on-chassis software development, campus and data center operational pilots, and multi-functional safety governance. Lead technical evaluation, procurement co-development, and engineering execution across quadrupedal platforms and bipedal/humanoid robotic systems. Structure and lead technical co-development landmarks and Joint Development Agreements (JDAs) with leading robotics manufacturers to enable direct on-chassis hosting of Cisco internal intelligence containers, Large Language Models (LLMs), and agent runtimes. Direct physical retrofits, mechanical bracket design, sensor integration (thermal imaging, LiDAR, depth cameras, Meraki surveillance), far-field microphone arrays, directional audio speakers, and RFID/NFC badging hardware. Design, deploy, and operationalize autonomous concierge robots across executive briefing facilities. Integrate low-latency conversational speech-to-speech AI triggered by wake-word detection, multi-state LED intent signaling (listening, thinking, navigating), and dynamic guest credential verification via badging reader hardware. Implement intelligent lead/follow behaviors, real-time 360-degree obstacle avoidance, dynamic door/portal actuation protocols, and waypoint generation (Orbit/Autowalk) to escort executives and guests. Architect and deploy autonomous quadruped and humanoid patrol routines across Cisco global data centers. Build on-chassis edge ML pipelines for directional acoustic listening to detect failing server cooling fans, power supplies, and mechanical bearing wear prior to service disruption. Deploy thermal imaging, optical character recognition (OCR) for server status indicators, cable path verification, and environmental telemetry audits integrated into Cisco SRE monitoring systems. Architect on-chassis edge compute payloads running containerized ROS 2 (Humble/Iron) environments with high-throughput sensor fusion. Connect physical robots into Cisco's Circuit / MyAgent ecosystem via Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) interfaces, allowing AI agents to command and query physical robots securely. Implement 802.1X network authentication, Duo/Okta identity federation, and zero-trust edge access control. Enforce edge data filtering

The description is cut here. Read the full offer: https://jobsbylevel.com/jobs/director-physical-ai-at-cisco-f34301

Source: https://jobsbylevel.com/jobs/director-physical-ai-at-cisco-f34301

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