Senior Site Reliability Engineer (Hybrid)

Cisco; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 168,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc is seeking a Senior Site Reliability Engineer to build, operate, and improve the reliability of Splunk Agent Observability deployment platforms across cloud and air-gapped environments. You will own deployment observability, automation, and incident response while collaborating with engineering teams to deliver secure and scalable systems.

The role emphasizes Kubernetes-based production infrastructure, Terraform for IaC, and Python/Go tooling, with on-site Tuesdays in San

Qualifications

• 7+ years’ professional experience in Site Reliability Engineering or related fields.
• 3+ years operating Kubernetes in production; experience with Helm.
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD platforms and deployment automation.
• Experience with AWS, GCP, or similar cloud platforms.

Responsibilities

• Operate and improve Kubernetes-based production infrastructure and deployment systems.
• Own customer deployments across cloud and air-gapped environments, including installation, upgrades, troubleshooting, and lifecycle management.
• Build and improve deployment observability, monitoring, logging, and alerting.
• Improve reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency through automation and performance optimization.
• Participate in production incident response, root cause analysis, and reliability improvements.
• Design and develop internal tooling using Python and/or Go.
• Collaborate with software engineers and customers to design secure, scalable deployment architectures.

Skills

SRE experience

Troubleshooting

Automation

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Tools

Kubernetes

Helm

CI/CD platforms

Terraform

Python

Go

AWS

GCP

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/30/2026

This is a Hybrid position requiring Tuesdays and Thursdays on-site. In CA, the on-site requirement is Tuesdays in San Francisco and Thursdays in San Jose, CA; in NYC, Tuesdays and Thursdays are on-site in our NYC office.

The Splunk Agent Resilience team is defining the future of AI resilience. Our team provides scalable, cost-effective evaluation and guardrails that ensure AI agents behave as intended, improving reliability and reducing risks. This unified approach empowers our customers to confidently deploy and manage AI-powered applications with enhanced observability and control.

As a Senior Site Reliability Engineer (SRE), you will build, operate, and continuously improve the reliability, scalability, and operational excellence of Splunk Agent Observability's deployment platform and production infrastructure. You will own the operational backbone supporting both cloud and air-gapped customer deployments, develop automation to improve operational efficiency, and partner closely with engineering teams to deliver reliable, secure, and scalable systems.

Your Impact

• Operate and improve Kubernetes-based production infrastructure and deployment systems
• Own customer deployments across cloud and air-gapped environments, including installation, upgrades, troubleshooting, and lifecycle management
• Build and improve deployment observability, monitoring, logging, and alerting
• Improve reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency through automation and performance optimization
• Participate in production incident response, root cause analysis, and reliability improvements
• Tune infrastructure components—including databases and services—to improve performance and resilience
• Design and develop internal tooling using Python and/or Go
• Debug complex production issues spanning Kubernetes, networking, storage, and application layers
• Manage infrastructure using Terraform or similar Infrastructure as Code tools
• Collaborate with software engineers and customers to design secure, scalable, and reliable deployment architectures

Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years’ experience with a Bachelor's degree or 4+ yrs with a Masters or 1 year with a PhD, or equivalent related experience; Experience to include at least 4 years in Site Reliability Engineering, Platform / Cloud / Infrastructure Engineering, or related fields
• 3+ years’ operating Kubernetes in production; experience with Helm
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD platforms and deployment automation
• Experience working with AWS, GCP, or similar cloud platforms

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience improving production reliability, scalability, and availability
• Experience with monitoring, logging, observability, and alerting platforms
• Strong scripting or programming skills in Python and/or Go
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform
• Experience with MLOps preferred
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals (VPCs, DNS, routing, load balancing)
• Experience operating databases and tuning them for performance and reliability
• Experience deploying and supporting cloud and air-gapped/on-prem environments
• Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills across distributed systems starts with you.

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