Relevance Engineer – Enterprise Search & AI North Carolina Hybrid

We are a collaborative team of search engineers, data scientists, and AI practitioners who value experimentation, measurable impact, and technical excellence. What makes this team exciting is the opportunity to shape the future of enterprise search by integrating traditional information retrieval with cutting-edge AI and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and agentic frameworks at scale.

Your Impact

• Architect and optimize hybrid retrieval systems leveraging Elasticsearch, semantic embeddings, and re-ranking models to improve top-k relevance, latency, and downstream Generative AI response quality.
• Develop and tune relevance models using query analytics, behavioral signals, and experimentation frameworks to improve search outcomes.
• Integrate Generative AI capabilities with traditional information retrieval systems to create intelligent, context-aware search experiences.
• Implement and optimize Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines that combine structured and unstructured enterprise data sources.
• Partner with AI engineers, platform teams, and product stakeholders to define measurable improvements in search quality and user satisfaction.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Retrieval, Data Science, or related field with 5+ years of experience in search engineering or relevance optimization.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience designing and operating Elasticsearch in production environments.
• Demonstrated experience tuning search relevance (ranking, scoring models, analyzers, tokenization, synonyms, boosting).
• Experience working with large-scale structured and unstructured data sets.
• Proficiency in Python, Java, or similar programming language for search and data processing applications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience integrating Generative AI or LLM-based systems with search platforms.
• Familiarity with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) frameworks and vector search techniques.
• Experience with hybrid search (keyword + vector search) and embedding-based retrieval systems.
• Knowledge of evaluation metrics such as NDCG, MRR, precision/recall, and A/B testing for search optimization.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate search relevance improvements into business impact.

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 $124,400.00 to $163,200.00 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 employees

• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco

• Non-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 employees

• Exempt 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 next

• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members

• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For 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%; and

• Once 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:

$203,000.00 - $297,400.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$181,000.00 - $264,600.00

* 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.