Principal Corporate Counsel: IP Litigation

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Members of the Legal organization at select locations will generally be expected to follow a hybrid work model, which includes two days of in-office attendance each week, with limited exceptions.

NOTE: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

This role can be performed from any location within the United States.

Meet the Team

Cisco's in-house litigation team includes our commercial and IP attorneys, specialists, and paralegals. Our IP Litigation team is responsible for the company's patent litigation matters globally, and works closely with Cisco's product, engineering, sales, finance, marketing and other business teams on disputes. The position will report to our Vice President & Deputy General Counsel of IP Litigation and will be responsible for handling a wide of variety of matters across geographies. The position will work closely with business functions across the company.

Your Impact

You will be part of a fast-moving, highly impactful, collaborative legal team and you will play a leadership role in all aspects of our intellectual property disputes. You will lead strategic and day-to-day litigation management of matters from initial demand to trial, and through appeal. You will work on a wide variety of cases ranging from U.S. district and appellate court litigation, mediation, and arbitration to PTAB/PTO matters and foreign patent litigation.

Responsibilities include:

• Managing all aspects of Cisco's docket of patent disputes in courts, alternative dispute forums and other tribunals throughout the world.
• Selecting, retaining and managing outside counsel; establishing and managing litigation budgets that align Cisco's interest with the interest of outside counsel and enhance likelihood of successful outcomes.
• Providing business driven counseling to mitigate legal risk in a wide scope of patent disputes.
• Coordinating litigation strategies between U.S. district court, PTAB, PTO and foreign legal teams, and facilitating regular communication between these teams.
• Liaising with Cisco engineers and outside counsel to assist with discovery and inform litigation positions and strategy.
• Attending hearings and trials (as well as mocks) and providing valuable feedback on strategy to outside counsel.
• Counseling finance and business functions on risk assessment and dispute resolution strategies.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Juris Doctorate (JD) with a strong academic record.
• 7-8 years of experience working on significant IP litigation matters, including through mediation, arbitration, post grant proceedings, or trial, at a law firm or in-house legal department.
• Experience coordinating litigation strategy between U.S. district court litigation and IPR teams is a must. Additional experience coordinating with foreign litigation teams is a huge plus.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills and ability to translate complex legal principles and issues to business partners.
• Ability to work independently, and exhibit the poise, presence, judgment and decision-making skills to advise senior level management on matters involving legal and reputational risk.

Preferred Qualifications:

• USPTO admission.
• Significant experience with U.S. District Court and PTAB/PTO proceedings.
• International litigation experience, particularly in the UPC and Germany.
• Undergraduate degree in engineering or computer science.

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.

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 ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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:

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

* 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.