The posting
The application window is expected to close on: 10/08/2026
Meet the Team
Cisco’s Engineering Lab Operations team provides the critical physical and virtual infrastructure backbone powering next-generation hardware and software innovation across our San Jose and Santa Clara campuses. Our mission is to build, maintain, and optimize mission-critical lab environments and data center spaces that enable global development teams to design, test, and validate cutting-edge networking technologies. We are a hands-on, highly collaborative group of infrastructure and systems engineers who value operational excellence, rapid troubleshooting, and lab safety standards. What makes this team exciting is the daily exposure to enterprise-grade architectures—including advanced Cisco UCS compute clusters, Nexus switching fabrics, and multi-hypervisor virtualization topologies at massive scale.
Your Impact
As a Laboratory Engineer, you will maintain and optimize mission-critical lab and data center environments across our San Jose and Santa Clara campuses to ensure 24/7 infrastructure readiness for next-generation hardware and software innovation. You will deploy, configure, and administer enterprise-grade Cisco UCS compute clusters, storage solutions, and VMware virtualization platforms to deliver scalable, high-performance testbeds for development teams. You will deliver hands-on Layer 1 through Layer 3 networking support and proactive troubleshooting across switches, routers, and subnets to rapidly resolve connectivity blockers and maintain lab uptime. You will automate routine system health checks and operational workflows using scripting tools and monitoring platforms to increase lab efficiency and minimize service disruptions. You will partner cross-functionally with InfoSec, facilities, and engineering stakeholders to execute physical hardware deployments while upholding rigorous ISO, ESD, and lab safety compliance standards.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline with 5+ years of related lab infrastructure/engineering experience (or Master’s degree with 3+ years of experience, or equivalent practical experience).
- 3+ years of hands-on systems administration experience managing Linux (RHEL/Ubuntu) and Windows operating systems in bare-metal and virtualized environments.
- 3+ years of experience administering enterprise virtualization platforms (such as VMware vSphere/vCenter/ESXi 7.0–8.x or Proxmox/KVM).
- Demonstrated experience with Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking fundamentals, including IPv4/IPv6 subnetting, VLANs, switching/routing, DNS, and DHCP.
- Experience installing, racking, cabling, and configuring enterprise server hardware (such as Cisco UCS rack/blade servers, RAID controllers, and power/PDU systems).
Preferred Qualifications
- Industry technical certifications such as Cisco CCNA/CCNP, VMware VCP, or Red Hat RHCSA/RHCE.
- Hands-on configuration experience with Cisco Nexus switches, Cisco IOS/NX-OS, and Cisco UCS Manager/Intersight.
- Experience utilizing network test and traffic generation equipment (e.g., IXIA, Spirent) and intelligent power distribution units (e.g., Raritan, APC, Enlogic).
- Proficiency in writing automation scripts (Python, Bash, or Perl) and working with monitoring tools like Nagios and IPAM platforms.
- Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills with a proven track record of managing competing priorities in a fast-paced engineering lab environment.
Why Cisco?
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.
Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:
The starting salary range posted for this position is $130,500.00 to $169,000.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.
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:
$130,500.00 - $194,400.00
Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$119,500.00 - $174,200.00
* 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.
