Leader, Software Engineering - Backend | 12+ Yrs | Bangalore

Cisco Systems, Inc.; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Meraki's Mars team brings Meraki Dashboard features to the Cisco Catalyst family, enabling customers to manage and automate critical network infrastructure at scale.

As a Software Engineering Manager, you will lead, support, and develop a team of 8-10 software engineers, owning the team’s outcomes from planning through production and collaborating with cross-functional partners to build scalable, secure solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field with 12+ years of related software engineering experience; or Master's with 10+ years; or PhD with 5+ years.
• 3+ years of hands-on people-management experience, leading a team of 8-10 software engineers.
• Strong familiarity with backend application development using Ruby on Rails and Python, and containerized/cloud-native environments with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience with architecture, system design, technical trade-offs, and distributed systems, plus coaching engineers in these areas.
• Practical experience with emulation and simulation of networking devices and solving software/networking issues across the stack.
• Experience leading projects from loosely defined business problems through delivery, defining milestones, tracking metrics, and managing cross-functional dependencies.
• Demonstrated curiosity, accountability, and clear communication, including surfacing risks early and coordinating with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead, support, and develop a team of 8-10 software engineers.
• Own the team's outcomes from planning through production, setting priorities and milestones.
• Manage dependencies and ensure delivery of reliable, scalable, and secure solutions.
• Collaborate with Product Management, Engineering, and cross-functional partners to translate business needs into execution plans.
• Foster ownership, accountability, curiosity, and continuous learning within the team.

Skills

People management

Backend development

Ruby on Rails

Python

Docker

Kubernetes

Distributed systems

Architecture design

Networking emulation

Education

Bachelor's degree + 12+ years

Master's + 10+ years

PhD + 5+ years

Tools

Cisco Modeling Labs (CML)

Emulation platforms

Cloud platforms

Job description

Meet the Team

At Cisco Meraki, our intuitive platform enables organizations of all sizes to deliver customer and employee experiences at scale. Our culture is collaborative, flexible, and inclusive, giving employees the autonomy to build technology that is intuitive, secure, and accessible.

The Mars team brings Meraki Dashboard features to the Cisco Catalyst family, enabling customers to manage and automate critical network infrastructure at scale.

Your Impact

As a Software Engineering Manager, you will lead, support, and develop a team of approximately 8-10software engineers. You will own the team's outcomes from planning through production, setting clear priorities, establishingrealistic milestones, managing dependencies, and ensuring the delivery of reliable, scalable, and secure solutions. You will remain technically engaged, partnering with senior engineers on architecture, system design, and sophisticated software and networking challenges. You will work closely with Product Management, Engineering, and other cross-functional partners to build roadmaps and translate loosely defined business needs into clear execution plans. You will foster a culture of ownership, accountability, curiosity, and continuous learning, where people communicate clearly, raise risks early, and approach difficult conversations with courage and respect.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field and 12+ years of relatedsoftware engineeringexperience, or Master's with 10+ years, or PhD with 5+ years.
• 3+ years of hands‑on people‑management experience, with demonstrated success leading, mentoring, and developing a team of approximately 8-10software engineers.
• Strong familiarity with backend application development using technologies such as Ruby on Rails and Python, as well as containerized and cloud‑native environments using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Demonstrated experience with architecture, system design, technical trade‑offs, and distributed systems, along with the ability to coach engineers on these areas.
• Practical experience with emulation and simulation of networking devices and solving software/networking issues across the stack.
• Experience leading projects from loosely defined business problems through delivery, including defining milestones, tracking metrics, and managing cross‑functional dependencies.
• Demonstrated curiosity, accountability, and clear communication, including the courage to surface risks early, discuss difficult topics constructively, align stakeholders, and learn new technologies or domains.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with networking devices and technologies.

• Experience with Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) or similar network emulation/simulation platforms.

• Experience in systems software design or large-scale distributed networking solutions.

• Experience working across multi-functional and geographically distributed engineering teams.

• Experience with product roadmap planning, resource estimation, Agile development practices, and customer/partner engagement.

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.