Backend Senior Software Engineer, CX Engineering(Hybrid)

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 168,000 - 245,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

401(k) matching

Parental leave

Stock grants

Paid holidays

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is hiring a Senior Software Engineer in a hybrid model with in-office days in RTP, NC or San Jose, CA. You will design, build, and deploy robust cloud-native software that scales for Cisco’s global customer base.

You will mentor teammates, collaborate across teams, and apply AI-assisted development to improve engineering efficiency and reliability in distributed systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (or equivalent) with 7+ yrs in full SDLC, or Master’s with 4+ yrs, or PhD with 1+ yr.
• Experience in backend coding languages (Python, Go, Node.js, Java, or Rust) with REST/GraphQL APIs and databases.
• CI/CD workflows experience and deployment-failure resolution.
• Cloud infra and container orchestration (AWS, Kubernetes, Docker).
• Experience with AI-assisted development tools or AIOps practices.

Responsibilities

• Own full software development lifecycle from design to deployment.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to drive deployment and optimization strategies.
• Mentor junior engineers to elevate team technical expertise.
• Build robust, scalable cloud-native solutions for Cisco’s customers.

Skills

Backend development

REST/GraphQL

CI/CD

Cloud infrastructure

Kubernetes/Docker

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

Kafka

AWS SQS/SNS

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

CloudFormation

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 09/27/2026. This role follows a hybrid work model, with in-office attendance of at least two days in Research Triangle Park (RTP), NC or San Jose, CA.

Meet the Team

Cisco’s Customer Experience (CX) Engineering organization is one of the company’s fastest-growing and most innovative teams, crafting a first-in-class digital experience for customers and partners wherever they connect with Cisco. CX Platform supports the diverse needs of the CX organization through a platform-centric approach and is being built with emerging technologies, including predictive AI and generative AI, to drive greater customer success. The team sits at the center of developing modern, cloud-native technologies that help Cisco stay agile and adaptable in a rapidly evolving market. As pioneers in this space, the team helps customers maximize value through a simple, unified Cisco experience that accelerates time to impact. The culture is fast-moving, highly collaborative, data-driven, and grounded in ownership, accountability, quality, and urgency.

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.

Your Impact

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will join our growing team to design and deliver robust, scalable software solutions that enable customers to maximize the value of their Cisco technology investments. You will own the full software development lifecycle—from technical design and backend architecture to deployment—while ensuring high reliability and fault tolerance in distributed systems. Beyond technical execution, you will collaborate closely with internal stakeholders to drive deployment and optimization strategies while mentoring junior engineers to elevate the team’s collective technical expertise. This role is uniquely exciting as it places you at the intersection of complex cloud-native engineering and direct customer impact, allowing you to solve mission-critical challenges at scale. You will serve as a technical anchor, balancing high-level architectural contributions with hands- on development to build lasting solutions for our global customer base.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (or equivalent field) with 7+ years of experience in the full software development lifecycle (build, test, deploy), or Master’s degree with 4+ years of related experience, or PhD with 1+ year of related experience.
• Experience in backend development coding in Python, Go, Node.js, Java, or Rust, developing REST or GraphQL APIs, relational or NoSQL databases including schema design and query optimization; and messaging or event-streaming technologies such as Kafka or AWS SQS/SNS.
• Experience CI/CD workflows, with prior exposure to building or maintaining pipelines and resolving deployment failures.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and container orchestration, specifically AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation).
• Demonstrated experience applying AI-assisted development tools or AIOps practices to improve engineering efficiency.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in software development within distributed production environments.
• Expertise in large-scale data ingestion, transformation (ETL/ELT), and real-time streaming/Change Data Capture (CDC) technologies.
• Strong familiarity with observability practices, including metrics, logging, distributed tracing, and alerting for complex systems.
• Proficiency in modern frontend technologies and frameworks (e.g., Angular, React).

Salaries

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.

• New York City Metro Area: $167,700.00 - $282,000.00
• Non-Metro New York state & Washington state: $149,100.00 - $250,900.00

Benefits

• 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.
• 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
• 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