Senior Software Engineer

The application window is expected to close on: 10/30/2026

Meet the Team:

The Cisco Distributed System Engineering (DSE) group leads innovation in building products that power the world’s largest networks. As the networking industry evolves to support AI/ML workloads and a growing internet user base, our team is uniquely positioned to drive this transformation. We leverage open-source technologies and push the boundaries of Systems and Silicon Architecture

Our solutions team works closely with large webscaler customers to replicate their networks and prepare software and hardware for deployment. We operate in fast-paced sprints across Cisco’s product lineup, focusing on SONiC for web-scale environments, including AI/ML, routers, and switches.

Your Impact:

As a Software Engineer, you will be a key contributor to an agile team responsible for designing, developing, and executing tests to qualify network performance for AI/ML capabilities. You will take ownership of end-to-end product testing and provide deep-dive production support, ensuring high-quality deliverables in a dynamic environment.

You will leverage your expertise in Python automation and testing frameworks such as PyTest to streamline and enhance testing processes. Your role involves active participation in the open-source community to drive innovation and integrate best practices into our development lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Engaging in technical discussions with customers to gather and clarify requirements.

• Building and maintaining testing environments for system and solution validation.

• Developing and enhancing test frameworks and benchmarking tools.

• Defining metrics and gathering data for network performance benchmarking.

• Conducting hands-on troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for complex customer issues.

• Contributing to technical projects and sharing expertise to foster team-wide excellence and technical growth.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM with 7+ years of relevant experience, or Master’s degree in STEM with 4+ years, or PhD in STEM with 1+ years.

• 3+ years of experience in Python automation scripting.

• 2+ years of experience in configuring, testing, or debugging networking systems and solutions.

• Experience with PyTest or similar open-source QA automation frameworks.

• Experience with control and data plane technologies, including L2/L3 networking, BGP, ECMP, and VXLAN-based EVPN fabrics.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with test frameworks and traffic generators (both commercial and open source).

• Prior experience in customer-facing roles.

• Exposure to network operating systems, preferably SONiC very nice to have.

• Familiarity with RDMA and HPC networks.

• Understanding of RoCE and InfiniBand protocols.

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 $167,700.00 to $245,200.00 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:

$167,700.00 - $282,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$149,100.00 - $250,900.00

* 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.