Optical Customer Escalation Engineer

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Who We Are

In Cisco's Data Center, Internet & Cloud Infrastructure (DCI) and Networking Engineering, we build the future of the internet and define how millions of people and billions of devices connect every day. We are building the infrastructure for the Internet of tomorrow. In this role, you'll build relationships with customers to understand their issues and challenges. You'll then collaborate with peers across Engineering, Product Management, Sales, and Customer Experience to identify solutions, ensuring our customers recognize the full value of Cisco's products and services.

What You'll Do

As an Optical Customer Escalation Engineer, you will serve as a key technical contributor supporting complex customer escalations in high-scale optical networking environments. You will work closely with TAC, field teams, and product engineering to resolve high-impact issues and improve overall product stability in Service Provider and Web-scale/Hyperscale deployments for the Optical Product family including NCS 1000/2000. This role focuses on advanced troubleshooting, structured root cause analysis, and translating field issues into actionable engineering feedback.

• Ownership:Collaborate on and, at times, lead the technical resolution of high-priority customer escalations within Cisco's Optical portfolio. Deliver rapid root-cause analysis for complex hardware and software issues impacting optical transport systems.
• Advanced Optical Diagnostics:Apply advanced diagnostic tools and techniques for coherent optics, DWDM systems, and Routed Optical Networking (RON). Apply expertise in Digital Coherent Optics (DCO) pluggable transceivers (400ZR/ZR+, QSFP-DD), including modulation formats, FEC, and optical channel characteristics.
• Technical Communication:Support technical leads on high-stakes customer conference calls during critical network outages. Provide transparent, timely updates and act as a trusted advisor to both internal and external customers.
• AI-Powered Troubleshooting:Leverage GenAI tools and algorithmic thinking to accelerate log analysis, documentation, and the creation of debugging utilities.
• Lab Simulation & Validation:Leverage lab environments to recreate complex system failures, validate configuration changes, and test software or hardware fixes before customer deployment.
• Diagnostic Innovation:Identify gaps in solving capabilities and contribute to the development of debugging scripts, automation tools, and diagnostic utilities to accelerate issue isolation.
• Knowledge Engineering:Compose and maintain high-quality technical documentation, troubleshooting guides, and knowledge base articles to scale expertise across the organization.
• Collaboration:Partner with Engineering and Product Management to drive defect resolution and run the Customer Found Defect (CFD) lifecycle, from initial reporting to fix coordination.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM field (EE, CS, or related) with 5+ years of experience in optical network engineering or technical support.
• Proven experience resolving sophisticated technical issues inTransponders, Amplifiers, Optics and Optical Line Systems.
• Proven skills using analytical skills to debug, evaluate, and drive complex issues to resolution.
• Comprehensive understanding of networking, optical systems, operating systems (Linux/IOS-XR), and cloud infrastructure.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with a "customer-first" attitude.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience withCisco IOS-XRand theNCS1K/NCS2Kproduct suite.
• Familiarity withRouted Optical Networking (RON)architectures.
• Experience with automation (Python, TCL), automation test tools, and methodologies.
• Experience with Layer-0/Layer-1 traffic generators and analyzers (e.g.,Viavi, Agilent, Spirent, IXIA, Spectrum Analyzers, etc.).
• Experience with manageability applications and protocols:OpenConfig, Restconf, Netconf-YANG, and Telemetry.
• Familiarity with the internal Cisco ecosystem

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 ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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.