Cisco AI Engineer Behavioral Interview — Security-First, Customer-Centric Collaboration

This behavioral interview at Cisco evaluates how an AI Engineer operates within Cisco’s conscious culture and customer-first mindset while delivering trustworthy ML/AI capabilities across networking, security, collaboration (Webex), Meraki, and full-stack observability (AppDynamics/ThousandEyes). Expect deep probes on: partnering in a global, matrixed org with PM, platform, privacy/legal, security, and TAC/field teams; influencing without authority; handling field escalations and high-severity incidents with clear RCAs and change management; balancing innovation with reliability, compliance, and data governance (PII handling, data residency, regulated customers); applying responsible AI practices (bias mitigation, explainability for admins, model drift monitoring, human-in-the-loop, guardrails for GenAI); setting SLOs for AI features with robust observability and rollback strategies; writing crisp design docs/RFCs and communicating asynchronously across time zones; navigating ambiguity and prioritization; mentoring and feedback aligned to Cisco’s People Deal. Format is typically a 45-60 minute conversation with a hiring manager or senior engineers using STAR and scenario role-plays grounded in Cisco product contexts; success is measured by customer impact, accountability, security-by-design thinking, and collaborative problem solving.