Embedded Linux Software Engineer – Networking & Device Drivers with C/C++ |5-8 Years

Cisco Systems, Inc; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,400,000 - 2,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a skilled engineer to design and develop IIoT hardware platforms and software for industrial switching and routing products.

You will work on tight integration between hardware and software layers, including BSPs and kernel modules, while focusing on robust bring‑up and automation. Responsibilities include designing control and data plane software, analyzing requirements, and producing detailed design documents.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/ECE required or equivalent.
• Proficient in C/C++ with strong Linux kernel and device driver background.
• Experience with Linux hardware bring‑up, multi‑threading and state machines.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop IIoT hardware platforms for industrial switching and routing.
• Develop control plane and data plane software for IIoT products.
• Create low‑level software components including BSPs, drivers and kernel modules.
• Analyze requirements and write design documents and specifications.
• Code and unit test software modules with strong white‑box testing and automation.
• Triage, debug and reproduce failures; enable software bring‑up and customer issue resolution.
• Propose innovations to generate IP value for the company.

Skills

C/C++

Linux kernel

Device drivers

Kernel debugging

Linux bring-up

Multithreading

I2C/SPI/UART/PCIe/GPIO

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/ECE

Master’s degree

Tools

IXIA

Sniffer

Job description

Meet the team

Join theCisco IIoT teamto work on product development for industrial switching and routing solutions that transform industrial operations. The team builds secure, scalable technologies across industrial networking, edge computing, and IoT security, helping customers in manufacturing, energy, transportation, and smart cities improve efficiency through real-time insights. Cisco offers software engineers a unique experience that blends the scale and resources of a global organization with a startup‑like culture, strong collaboration, and broad growth opportunities.

Your Impact

• Design and development of IIoT hardware platforms, ensuring flawless integration between hardware and software layers.
• Build and development of control plane and data plane software for Cisco IIOT Switching, Routing products.
• Design and develop low‑level software components, including BSP, device drivers and kernel modules.
• Analyze requirements and problem statements to come with right software designs and solutions. To be able to write details Design documents and Functional Specifications.
• To Code and Unit Test Software components and modules. It is required to have strong white‑box testing and automating skills
• Triage, debug, and root cause simulation, software bring‑up, and customer failures
• To be able to innovate and come up with new insights that can lead to filing patents and creating IP value for the company

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors (5-8 years) or Master’s degree(3-6 years) in Computer Science, EE/ECE or related fields.
• Proficient in writing quality code in C/C++
• Strong hardware and device driver development background, including experience with Linux hardware bring-up.
• Proven experience in hardware and device driver development, including Linux hardware bring-up, multi-threading, event handling, and state machine implementation.
• Strong understanding of OS (e.g. Linux, RTOS, Unix) and experience working with Linux kernel, device drivers, and BSPs.
• Prior experience developing, debugging, andvalidatingembedded systems using protocols such asI2C, SPI, UART,PCIe, GPIO.
• Experience in developing software/firmware for networking equipment.
• Experience using Traffic generators/Analyzers such as IXIA/Sniffer is a plus.
• Hands on experience with Gen AI assistant technologies, natural language processing (NLP) or Gen AI technologies (OpenAI, Gemini, MCP, Agentic AI etc..)

Preferred Qualifications: (Optional)

Prior experience in kernel programming, open‑source technologies and kernel debugging tools such as GDB and KGDB.

Experience in development and validation of peripheral interfaces (e.g. PCI, PCIe, I2C, SPI, UART, GPIO, Ethernet) and ensure their reliable operations is a plus.

Cisco Networking certificates such as CCNA, CCNP, CCIE are desirable.

Experience with AI/ML and Agentic AI framework.

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.