Design Team Lead Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
Design Team Lead roles qualify for H-1B visa sponsorship as a specialty occupation requiring a bachelor's degree in design, human-computer interaction, or a related field. Employers file a Labor Condition Application before your visa petition, and many also offer green card pathways through EB-2 or EB-3 once you're established.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
The application window is expected to close on: 02/22/2027. This position requires that you live within commuting distance of our San Jose, CA office and commute to the office 4-5 days per week.
Meet the Team
Cisco Silicon One (#CiscoSiliconOne) is a business organization with a long track record of building complex and high-performance Silicon ASICs. Our silicon devices drive the world’s most complex networks and carry over 90% of IP traffic. Cisco Silicon One is the only unifying silicon architecture in the market that enables customers to deploy the best-of-breed silicon from Top of Rack (TOR) switches all the way through web scale data centers and across service provider, enterprise networks, and data centers with a fully unified routing and switching portfolio.
We are a highly specialized ASIC team with experts in all aspects of advanced IC package design and heterogeneous system integration. Our substrates use the latest 2.5D fanout technologies for large-scale integration, using the latest signaling and data transfer technologies. Come join us and take part in shaping Cisco's ground-breaking solutions by designing, developing and testing some of the most complex ASICs being developed in the industry!
Your Impact
This role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on the future of networking innovation within the Cisco Silicon One initiative. As a technical and team leader, you will drive complex package design programs—from planning and optimization to execution—ensuring the delivery of high-speed, robust, and scalable solutions for global networks.
You will lead and mentor engineers and develop future package leads while collaborating closely with layout, SI/PI, silicon architecture, and manufacturing partners. Your leadership will ensure the delivery of high-quality package designs aligned with system-level requirements.
Beyond technical leadership, you will help shape methodologies, improve development flows, and strengthen cross functional collaboration across Cisco’s global silicon organization, while fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Lead complex package design programs, planning and driving schedules from concept through implementation and tapeout.
- Optimize package pinouts, stack-ups, power distribution, and high-speed routing, balancing performance, manufacturability, and reliability.
- Collaborate with silicon floor planning, signal integrity (SI), and power integrity (PI) teams to ensure design quality and system-level alignment.
- Work closely with layout editors and implementation teams to deliver high-quality package layouts aligned with interface and manufacturing requirements.
- Serve as the technical and organizational lead of the San Jose package design team, providing mentorship, and technical guidance to engineers.
- Develop and grow package design capability within the team, mentoring engineers and enabling them to take ownership of increasingly complex package programs.
- Coordinate resources across designers, layout editors, and contractors to support efficient project execution.
- Enhance package design methodologies and partner with vendors to improve product quality and efficiency.
- Drive innovation in package solutions for Cisco’s next-generation ASIC platforms.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or a related field with 8+ years of relevant work experience or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field with 6+ years of relevant work experience.
- Experience in high-speed package design, including signal integrity considerations and power distribution networks (PDN).
- Experience with industry-standard EDA tools for package layout and design.
- Experience with technical leadership in complex hardware or silicon development programs.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience in ASIC package design, including pinout optimization and high-speed routing.
- Experience with silicon floor planning and collaboration with SI and PI teams.
- Experience leading or mentoring engineering teams and developing engineers.
- Experience coordinating complex cross-functional hardware development programs.
- Experience with testing and measurement equipment (oscilloscopes, TDR/VNA analyzers).
- Experience with scripting languages such as Python, Perl, TCL, or shell programming.
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.
COMPENSATION
The starting salary range posted for this position is $186,900.00 to $267,700.00 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:
$186,900.00 - $307,800.00
Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$166,300.00 - $274,100.00
- 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.
INTRODUCTION
The application window is expected to close on: 02/22/2027. This position requires that you live within commuting distance of our San Jose, CA office and commute to the office 4-5 days per week.
Meet the Team
Cisco Silicon One (#CiscoSiliconOne) is a business organization with a long track record of building complex and high-performance Silicon ASICs. Our silicon devices drive the world’s most complex networks and carry over 90% of IP traffic. Cisco Silicon One is the only unifying silicon architecture in the market that enables customers to deploy the best-of-breed silicon from Top of Rack (TOR) switches all the way through web scale data centers and across service provider, enterprise networks, and data centers with a fully unified routing and switching portfolio.
We are a highly specialized ASIC team with experts in all aspects of advanced IC package design and heterogeneous system integration. Our substrates use the latest 2.5D fanout technologies for large-scale integration, using the latest signaling and data transfer technologies. Come join us and take part in shaping Cisco's ground-breaking solutions by designing, developing and testing some of the most complex ASICs being developed in the industry!
Your Impact
This role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on the future of networking innovation within the Cisco Silicon One initiative. As a technical and team leader, you will drive complex package design programs—from planning and optimization to execution—ensuring the delivery of high-speed, robust, and scalable solutions for global networks.
You will lead and mentor engineers and develop future package leads while collaborating closely with layout, SI/PI, silicon architecture, and manufacturing partners. Your leadership will ensure the delivery of high-quality package designs aligned with system-level requirements.
Beyond technical leadership, you will help shape methodologies, improve development flows, and strengthen cross functional collaboration across Cisco’s global silicon organization, while fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Lead complex package design programs, planning and driving schedules from concept through implementation and tapeout.
- Optimize package pinouts, stack-ups, power distribution, and high-speed routing, balancing performance, manufacturability, and reliability.
- Collaborate with silicon floor planning, signal integrity (SI), and power integrity (PI) teams to ensure design quality and system-level alignment.
- Work closely with layout editors and implementation teams to deliver high-quality package layouts aligned with interface and manufacturing requirements.
- Serve as the technical and organizational lead of the San Jose package design team, providing mentorship, and technical guidance to engineers.
- Develop and grow package design capability within the team, mentoring engineers and enabling them to take ownership of increasingly complex package programs.
- Coordinate resources across designers, layout editors, and contractors to support efficient project execution.
- Enhance package design methodologies and partner with vendors to improve product quality and efficiency.
- Drive innovation in package solutions for Cisco’s next-generation ASIC platforms.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or a related field with 8+ years of relevant work experience or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field with 6+ years of relevant work experience.
- Experience in high-speed package design, including signal integrity considerations and power distribution networks (PDN).
- Experience with industry-standard EDA tools for package layout and design.
- Experience with technical leadership in complex hardware or silicon development programs.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience in ASIC package design, including pinout optimization and high-speed routing.
- Experience with silicon floor planning and collaboration with SI and PI teams.
- Experience leading or mentoring engineering teams and developing engineers.
- Experience coordinating complex cross-functional hardware development programs.
- Experience with testing and measurement equipment (oscilloscopes, TDR/VNA analyzers).
- Experience with scripting languages such as Python, Perl, TCL, or shell programming.
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.
COMPENSATION
The starting salary range posted for this position is $186,900.00 to $267,700.00 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:
$186,900.00 - $307,800.00
Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$166,300.00 - $274,100.00
- 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.
See all Design Team Lead Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Design Team Lead roles.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Design Team Lead Jobs
Frame your portfolio around measurable outcomes
USCIS adjudicators evaluate whether a Design Team Lead role requires a specific degree. Your portfolio should document systems-level design decisions, not just visuals, to demonstrate the specialized knowledge that justifies a specialty occupation classification.
Verify employer LCA filing history before applying
Use Migrate Mate to browse Design Team Lead roles at employers with verified LCA sponsorship history, so you're only spending time on companies that have already navigated the DOL certification process for design leadership positions.
Check prevailing wage tiers using OFLC Wage Search
Design Team Lead roles often fall at wage Level III or IV under DOL's prevailing wage system. Confirm which level matches your target metro before interviews so you can negotiate a qualifying offer without surprising the employer late in the process.
Anticipate the specialty occupation RFE for design roles
USCIS sometimes challenges whether design qualifies as a specialty occupation. Ask your prospective employer whether they've received a Request for Evidence on past design petitions and how they documented the degree requirement in the job description.
Align your degree field to the O*NET occupation profile
The O*NET profile for art and design directors lists specific knowledge domains. If your degree is in a related but non-obvious field like psychology or communication, prepare a credential evaluation that maps your coursework to the role's listed knowledge requirements.
Start PERM early if you're targeting a green card
Design Team Lead positions are frequently subject to PERM labor certification for EB-2 and EB-3 green cards. The DOL audit rate for creative and management hybrid roles is higher than average, so your employer should file well before your six-year H-1B limit approaches.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Design Team Lead role qualify as a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes?
Yes, provided the employer documents that the position normally requires at least a bachelor's degree in design, human-computer interaction, visual communication, or a directly related field. Roles that accept any degree or substitute extensive experience for formal education without a degree requirement are more vulnerable to USCIS challenges. The job description should specify the field, not just the credential level.
What degree do I need to sponsor an H-1B as a Design Team Lead?
USCIS looks for a bachelor's degree or higher in a field that directly relates to the job duties. For a Design Team Lead, degrees in graphic design, interaction design, industrial design, human-computer interaction, or fine arts with a design concentration all commonly qualify. Degrees in adjacent fields like communication or marketing can work if your coursework covered design theory and systems, but you may need a credential evaluation to establish the connection.
Which visa types are available for a Design Team Lead who isn't Australian or Canadian?
The H-1B is the most common path, subject to the annual cap and lottery. If you're already in the U.S. on F-1 OPT or STEM OPT, you can work while your employer files your H-1B petition. O-1A is an option if you have recognition for extraordinary ability in design, such as major awards, published work, or a record of leading high-profile projects. USCIS reviews each case on its own merits.
How do I find employers who actively sponsor Design Team Lead roles?
Migrate Mate lists employers with verified sponsorship history for design leadership positions, so you can focus your search on companies that have already filed for roles like yours rather than guessing from job postings alone.
Can a Design Team Lead pursue a green card while on H-1B status?
Yes. H-1B status allows dual intent, meaning you can pursue a green card without jeopardizing your nonimmigrant status. Most Design Team Leads go through the EB-2 or EB-3 employment-based categories, which require PERM labor certification filed by the employer. Because design and creative management roles sometimes draw DOL audits during PERM, employers should retain experienced immigration counsel and file early relative to your H-1B expiration.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored Design Team Lead jobs?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.