About the Role

Join our dynamic and strategic Incubation, Data & AI (IDA) Legal team as a Corporate Counsel. This pivotal role offers a unique opportunity to shape the legal framework underpinning Cisco’s cutting-edge AI and data initiatives, ensuring that innovation thrives while maintaining the highest levels of trust and compliance. You will leverage your legal expertise to provide sophisticated, practical, and forward-thinking guidance on the complex and rapidly evolving landscape AI deals.

A critical aspect of this position involves thoughtfully navigating the integration of AI-powered tools into legal work and business operations. You will be instrumental in exploring and evaluating how AI can augment legal and business practices, always ensuring that human judgment, ethical oversight, and deep experiential wisdom remain the ultimate arbiters of advice. Success in this role demands a profound commitment to understanding Cisco’s core businesses, its innovative AI strategy, and its long-term objectives. This insight is essential for providing tailored, proactive legal solutions, fostering continuity of knowledge, and ensuring strategic alignment with Cisco’s business trajectory.

Key Responsibilities

• Review, draft, and negotiate complex contracts and agreements, particularly those involving AI procurement, data licensing, and strategic partnerships, acting as a lead negotiator where appropriate.

• Develop, implement, and refine legal strategies, templates, guidelines, and resource materials that foster responsible procurement and deployment of AI tools and effective corporate management of these tools.

• Actively engage in evaluating, piloting, and responsibly integrating AI-powered legal research and advisory tools, ensuring that human legal expertise, judgment, and ethical considerations remain paramount in all advice provided to internal clients.

• Support complex, cross-functional initiatives related to corporate data and AI strategy, ensuring legal frameworks enable innovation while mitigating risk.

• Serve as a legal advisor, providing practical, nuanced guidance on [].

• Continuously deepen your understanding of Cisco’s business units, product roadmaps, and strategic priorities to provide proactive, integrated, and business-centric legal solutions that align with the company's long-term vision.

Example Responsibilities:

• Use AI-powered contract analysis tools to review and summarize incoming third-party agreements, and recommend fallback, mitigations, and negotiation points.

• Advise product teams on compliance and regulatory risks of integrating generative AI features.

• Develop and maintain a playbook for common negotiation points in AI procurement contracts.

• Stay alert to emerging AI-specific legal risks, such as bias, explainability, and liability frameworks.

• Exercise sound judgment when AI tool recommendations diverge from established best practices.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent from an accredited law school and admission to at least one U.S. state bar or relevant jurisdiction.

• 5–7 years of relevant legal experience, preferably in technology transactions, software/SaaS agreements, or AI/data-related matters (in-house or law firm).

• Familiarity with AI, machine learning, data privacy, and intellectual property issues is strongly preferred.

• Experience leveraging, piloting, or implementing legal technology tools (e.g., AI-based contract review, legal analytics, or research platforms) is a plus.

• Excellent drafting, negotiation, communication, and organizational skills.

• Strong analytical and business judgment with a willingness to learn and adapt quickly.

• Demonstrated commitment to ethical practice and continuous professional development.

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.