AI Researcher II (Intern) - United States

About this role

Please note this posting is to advertise potential job opportunities. This exact role may not be open today but could open in the near future. When you apply, a Cisco representative may contact you directly if a relevant position opens.

This role may be eligible for remote work in the   United States   depending on business needs and hiring manager approval.    

Meet the Team    

At Foundation AI, we are leading frontier AI research across Cisco. Our mission is to advance the state of AI. We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization methods, and scalable data processing techniques that solve real-world problems at scale.    

We explore new model architectures, pre-training and post-training methods, inference optimization, evaluation techniques, and data pipelines. Together, we are advancing AI at Cisco and for the broader AI community!    

Your Impact    

As an AI Researcher, you will work on the research, development, and deployment of advanced AI systems. Your focus will span large language models, agentic AI, multimodal learning, and enterprise-scale AI applications. We are looking for researchers who will help translate frontier research into practical systems by designing experiments, developing new methods, and turning research insights into impactful, scalable AI solutions.    

We are particularly interested in researchers with deep   expertise   in algorithm design for pre-training and post-training, scalable data curation, and reliable AI infrastructure. You will drive improvements to training algorithms, curate and optimize data at scale, and design infrastructure needed to train purpose-built models that can compete with frontier models on specific tasks aligned with Cisco's business priorities and Foundation AI's research agenda.    

We place a strong emphasis on publishing research and contributing meaningfully to the AI community. In this role, you will   write   scientific articles for top-tier machine learning and AI conferences, publish technical blog posts, and contribute to the open-source AI community!    

In this role, you will:    

• Develop scalable data curation and processing methods that improve model training and task-specific performance.    

• Build production-ready AI systems using strong software engineering practices.    

• Optimize   large language models and agentic systems for enterprise and security-focused use cases.    

•

Minimum Qualifications    

• Currently enrolled in one of the following:  

- An undergraduate degree program (Associate's or Bachelor's)  with 2 years of work experience ; or   

- A Master’s degree program  with 0 years of work experience .  

-Qualifying education and work experience should be in  Computer Science,   Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics,   Engineering   or a related   field.  or a related field or a related field.  

-Expected to continue enrollment in degree program following completion of   the internship.  

•   Strong experience with Python,   PyTorch , production-grade software engineering practices, and common AI/ML libraries  

• Experience with large language models, model training, fine-tuning, evaluation, inference, and optimization    

• Strong understanding of data pipelines, model experimentation, and scalable AI system design    

• Strong communication   skills, with the ability to explain complex research and engineering concepts to cross-functional partners    

Preferred Qualifications    

• Experience designing scalable data curation methods and building reliable infrastructure for large-scale model training, evaluation, inference, and deployment    

• Experience deploying high-performance inference engines such as   vLLM , NVIDIA Triton, or   TorchServe , and working with cloud-native deployment, Docker, Kubernetes,   MLOps   pipelines, and major cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure    

• Demonstrated history of publishing research in top-tier AI/ML conferences such as   NeurIPS , ICML, ICLR, or ACL, or contributing to significant open-source AI projects    

• Experience designing and scaling agentic AI workflows, multi-agent frameworks, and autonomous AI systems    

• Familiarity with cybersecurity principles, AI systems for security-focused use cases, safety, and robust machine learning  

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:

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

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