Senior Software Engineer (Boulder)

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; Boulder (CO); Hybrid; USD 139,000 - 204,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid/Remote work

Medical, dental and vision insurance

401(k) with Cisco matching

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Cisco in Boulder is seeking an accomplished backend engineer to own the Ingest Processor pipelines that power the Splunk integration platform. You will design and scale distributed systems, optimize concurrency and memory usage, and partner with product and platform leadership to align engineering with business needs.

You will mentor engineers, raise the bar on code quality and testing, and champion adoption of new technologies to keep our data infrastructure reliable, elastic, and ahead of

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS, SE, or related field.
• 7+ years backend distributed systems experience.
• Proficiency in Go or Java with concurrency and memory management.
• Experience with cloud-native infrastructure including Kubernetes.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive long-term ingestion pipeline strategy for performance and scalability.
• Lead design and implementation of distributed systems powering the platform.
• Partner with product and platform leadership to align engineering with business needs.
• Elevate engineering standards through code quality, testing, and best practices.
• Champion adoption of emerging technologies for large-scale data challenges.

Skills

Distributed systems

Backend development

Concurrency models

Memory management

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science / Software Engineering

Tools

Go

Java

Kubernetes

Cloud-native infra

Job description

Meet the Team

The Ingest Processor Team serves as the foundational engine of the Splunk Integrated Data Platform, architecting and maintaining high-throughput pipelines that process petabytes of data. Our work sits at the critical intersection of Cisco and Splunk integration, providing the mission‑critical infrastructure that powers real‑time observability and security for our global enterprise customers. We are a high‑performing, collaborative organization that prioritizes clean code, rigorous testing, and pragmatic architectural decision‑making. Operating in a hybrid/remote environment, we foster a culture where technical excellence and continuous learning are the standards. This role offers a unique opportunity to solve complex distributed systems challenges at a scale unmatched in the industry.

Your Impact

• Define and drive the long‑term technical strategy for our ingestion pipelines to ensure industry‑leading performance, elasticity, and scalability.
• Lead the design and implementation of mission‑critical distributed systems, directly influencing the reliability and performance of the entire Splunk platform.
• Partner with product and platform leadership to bridge the gap between complex engineering initiatives and evolving business requirements.
• Elevate the engineering organization by establishing best‑in‑class standards for system design, code quality, and operational excellence.
• Champion the adoption of emerging technologies to solve large‑scale data challenges, ensuring our infrastructure remains at the forefront of the industry.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 7+ years of professional experience in backend software development, with a primary focus on large-scale distributed systems.
• Experience with Go or Java, including a deep, practical understanding of concurrency models and memory management.
• Experience architecting, deploying, and scaling high-volume data processing pipelines systems.
• Experience with cloud-native infrastructure, including Kubernetes, microservices architecture, and distributed storage systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exceptional ability to influence technical strategy and align stakeholders across multiple teams and organizational levels.
• Demonstrated success in leading complex, multi-year engineering roadmaps from initial conception through to production.
• A strong track record of mentoring senior engineers and fostering a culture of high-performance and technical excellence.
• Advanced ability to communicate complex architectural concepts and trade-offs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A demonstrated passion for driving innovation and maintaining expertise in state-of-the-art distributed systems and data platform technologies.

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.

Salary and Benefits

The starting salary range posted for this position is $139,300.00 to $203,600.00 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.

• U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which includes 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, 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.
• New York City Metro Area: $167,700.00 - $282,000.00
• Non-Metro New York state & Washington state: $149,100.00 - $250,900.00
• * 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.

Cisconians power the future. We make impact as a team, innovating fast and fearlessly to create meaningful solutions on a large scale. The depth and breadth of our technology doesn't just benefit our customers – it also means limitless opportunities for us to experiment and learn. We understand the power each of our unique backgrounds bring when we work together. Because of that, we have a global network of thinkers, doers, experts, and curious creators who help one another do their life’s best work.