Principal Corporate Counsel: Trade Secrets, Copyrights, and AI in IP (Chicago)

The application window is expected to close on: 07/27/2026Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.Members of the Legal organization at select locations will generally be expected to follow a hybrid work model, which includes two days of in-office attendance each week, with limited exceptions.Meet the Team  At Cisco, the Intellectual Property team sits at the crossroads of technology, business, and law, with insight into an outstanding breadth of innovation spanning networking, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, collaboration, and observability. We work together inside a legal organization that treats IP as a strategic business asset and are building the institutional frameworks that let Cisco's engineers translate invention into durable protection.  AI is changing the terms of that work, including what we can protect, through which legal instruments, and with what level of certainty. And it creates new categories of exposure — in copyright, in trade secrets, in vendor contracting, and in prosecution validity — that require a dedicated function to manage. This role is that function. Your Impact  This is a role built around a genuine legal problem: the IP frameworks that governed technology companies for the past thirty years do not cleanly map onto how AI-era innovation works. Patents remain important, but inventorship rules are being tested across the world, copyright matters more than it ever has but the rules on AI-generated output are still being written, and trade secrets may become the dominant protection strategy for proprietary systems - but only if the program is built and maintained with rigor. In practice, you will: Lead the IP aspects of Cisco's AI legal & governance strategies: the policies, documentation standards, and invention bring together workflows that resolve whether AI-assisted innovations produce enforceable patents or evidentiary gaps. This includes updating mentorship on human conception documentation and partnering cross functionally with other subject-matter guides in Legal to establish the approved-tool standards to ensure IP protection and IP risk mitigation related to how engineers use AI in invention development. Evolve and run Cisco's copyright program in the AI era — both the traditional function and the emerging questions: what Cisco can own in AI-generated technical and creative output, how to structure human authorship records to improve protectability, and how to lead the downstream copyright liability composed by foundation model training data in Cisco's vendor stack. Evolve and run Cisco's trade secret program as a genuine enterprise function; not just a policy document. That means: identifying the best methodology and systems to classify our proprietary assets that deserve trade secret protection; detailing the reasonable protective measures required to establish and defend that protection; and craft the legal and technical governance that makes the program defensible in litigation. Work with the patent team to advise them on AI-specific patent-related strategies, including AI-assisted inventorship documentation and any inter-jurisdictional differences that affect how we run patent protection. Work with the AI legal team to audit and run AI vendor IP exposure, including being the IP critical issue point for AI-related agreements and establishing the IP contractual standards that Cisco requires before deploying AI tools at scale. Serve as the IP team's legal intelligence function on AI: translating USPTO mentorship, Copyright Office reports, Federal Circuit decisions, and legislative developments in the US and abroad into timely executive-ready mentorship. Minimum Qualifications:JD and active bar membership: J.D. from an accredited law school with active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction; 10+ years IP legal experience: Minimum of 10 years of intellectual property legal experience, with at least 5 years focused specifically on technology-based IP matters, including copyright ownership and/ trade secret protection. AI & IP proficiency: Deep working knowledge of copyright and/or trade secrets as applied to AI-generated works. Preferred Qualifications:Prior experience advising on copyright licensing for software and/or AI-generated content at scale, including SaaS platform output, API-delivered content, or enterprise software products where the line between human-authored and AI-generated deliverables is blurred and legally material International IP exposure relevant to AI (e.g., working knowledge of EU AI Act transparency obligations and their tension with trade secret protection). Experience structuring or leading a trade secret litigation matter or pre-litigation investigation, including familiarity with trade secret identification for discovery purposes, reasonable-measures evidence, and the causal nexus standards courts are applying to AI-related misappropriation claims.  Track record of credible, concise executive communication on IP risk; ability to translate genuinely unsettled legal doctrine into business-relevant mentorship for executives and engineers without over-hedging or misrepresenting the state of the law, and with proven ability to defend a position under skeptical questioning. 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 $202,200.00 to $256,000.00 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 employees1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by CiscoNon-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 employeesExempt 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 nextAdditional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family membersOptional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteerFor 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%; andOnce 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:$221,300.00 - $331,000.00Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:$202,200.00 - $294,400.00* 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.Job SummaryJob number: 2016045Date posted : 2026-07-20Profession: LegalEmployment type: Full time