Senior Engineering Manager, AI

The application window is expected to close on: 07/31/2026Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.Meet the Team Splunk, a Cisco company, is building a safer, more resilient digital world with an end‑to‑end, full‑stack platform designed for hybrid, multi‑cloud environments. Join the AI Models team at Splunk, where we advance the state of AI for high‑volume, real‑time, multi‑modal machine‑generated data — including logs, time series, traces, and events. We combine deep AI research expertise with the scale and operational excellence of Splunk and Cisco’s global engineering capabilities. Our work spans networking, security, observability, and customer experience — designing and deploying foundation models that enhance reliability, strengthen security, prevent downtime, and deliver predictive insights across Splunk Observability, Security, and Platform at enterprise scale. You’ll be part of a culture that values technical excellence, impact‑driven innovation, and cross‑functional collaboration — all within a flexible, growth‑oriented environment. Your Impact As a Senior Engineering Manager, AI, you will lead a high-performing team building advanced AI capabilities for code generation and developer productivity. You will help define the technical strategy, guide execution from research to production, and partner closely with product, platform, and engineering leaders to deliver scalable, reliable AI-powered experiences. This role is ideal for a leader with strong engineering management experience and deep technical fluency in machine learning systems, large language models, and production AI platforms as you will:Lead and develop a team of engineers and AI practitioners building intelligent code generation systems and related platform capabilities. Define and execute the technical roadmap for AI initiatives focused on code generation, agentic workflows, and developer tooling. Partner with cross-functional teams across engineering, product, and platform to bring AI innovations into production. Drive the design, development, evaluation, deployment, and operation of production-grade AI/ML systems. Establish best practices for experimentation, benchmarking, model evaluation, observability, reliability, and continuous improvement. Guide architectural decisions for distributed training, inference, tool integration, and scalable model-serving systems. Balance innovation with operational excellence, ensuring solutions meet high standards for performance, quality, cost efficiency, and maintainability. Hire, mentor, and grow technical talent while fostering an inclusive, high-accountability engineering culture. Influence long-term AI strategy and investment decisions across the broader organization. Minimum Qualifications8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 years in a leadership or management role.5+ years of experience designing, developing, and deploying production-grade AI/ML systems.3+ years of experience building and managing distributed training and scalable model-serving systems.3+ years of experience establishing frameworks for model evaluation, benchmarking, and observability.2+ years of experience leading technical teams in the development of software engineering or AI platforms.Preferred QualificationsProven track record of leading and mentoring high-performing engineering and AI teams.Deep expertise in designing, deploying, and operating production-grade AI/ML systems at scale.Strong background in defining technical roadmaps for complex AI initiatives, such as code generation or agentic workflows.Demonstrated ability to collaborate cross-functionally to drive AI innovations from concept to production.Exceptional strategic leadership skills with a focus on establishing best practices for model evaluation, reliability, and architectural excellence.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 $234,400.00 to $296,600.00 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:$256,900.00 - $383,500.00Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:$234,400.00 - $341,100.00* 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: 2015059Date posted : 2026-07-31Profession: OtherEmployment type: Full time