DevOps Engineer

Cisco Systems, Inc; Durham (NC); Hybrid; USD 138,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision insurance

401(k) plan with Cisco matching

Paid parental leave

Short and long-term disability

Basic life insurance

Flexible vacation time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. seeks a platform engineer to build and operate Kubernetes-native tooling and services that support SDLC activities across local and CI/CD environments.

You will enable self-service systems for product teams and collaborate with application and SRE teams to deliver secure, reliable cloud-native platforms during US business hours. The role emphasizes platform operations, telemetry, authentication/authorization, and vulnerability management, with experience in Argo CD, Helm,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 5+ years of experience or Master's degree with 3+ years.
• 2+ years of software or platform engineering experience with Go, Python, or a similar language.
• Experience deploying applications on Kubernetes in cloud service environments like AWS, GCP, or Azure etc.
• Experience with containerization, Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or Packer.
• Experience with CI/CD systems and pipeline automation.

Responsibilities

• Build and operate platforms and shared developer tooling to make product delivery repeatable.
• Design cloud-native services and APIs for build, test, and deploy workflows, and improve platform reliability, scalability, and the developer experience.
• Enable and own platform operations, including on-call, telemetry-driven metrics, authentication and authorization, and vulnerability management.
• Succeed by providing reliable Kubernetes-native platforms that help teams deliver cloud-native services securely and efficiently.

Skills

Go

Python

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Terraform

Ansible

Packer

GitLab CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree with 5+ years experience or Master's with 3+ years

Tools

Argo CD

Helm

Prometheus

OpenTelemetry

GitLab CI/CD

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/02/2026

Meet the Team

Our team builds and operates tooling and Kubernetes-native services supporting SDLC activities in local and CI/CD environments. These platforms give product development teams self-service systems to build, test, and deploy cloud-native services. The team partners with application and SRE teams to support secure, reliable delivery across the organization. Our Scrum team has 6–8 engineers, works remotely and in hybrid arrangements across locations during U.S. business hours, and collaborates across projects with open discussion across experience levels. Engineers in this role can improve the developer experience through platforms used across the engineering organization.

Your Impact

Build and operate platforms and shared developer tooling to make product delivery repeatable. Design cloud-native services and APIs for build, test, and deploy workflows, and improve platform reliability, scalability, and the developer experience. Enable and own platform operations, including on-call, telemetry-driven metrics, authentication and authorization, and vulnerability management. Succeed by providing reliable Kubernetes-native platforms that help teams deliver cloud-native services securely and efficiently.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 5+ years of experience or Master's degree with 3+ years.
• 2+ years of software or platform engineering experience with Go, Python, or a similar language.
• Experience deploying applications on Kubernetes in cloud service environments like AWS, GCP, or Azure etc.
• Experience with containerization, Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or Packer.
• Experience with CI/CD systems and pipeline automation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with CNCF tools such as Argo CD, Helm, Prometheus, or OpenTelemetry, along with modern cloud-native design patterns.
• Experience with agentic AI workflows, LLM prompting, or AI-driven developer productivity tools.
• Experience owning and maintaining GitLab CI/CD pipeline definitions

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 $138,100.00 to $198,200.00 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.

• 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

$155,000.00 - $256,000.00

Non-Metro New York State & Washington State

$138,100.00 - $227,900.00

• 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.