Senior Tech Lead, Backend & Architecture (Hybrid)

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 187,000 - 268,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision insurance

401(k) with Cisco matching

Paid parental leave

Short/long-term disability coverage

Life insurance

Annual bonuses for non-sales roles

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is hiring for a senior backend architect in a hybrid role, requiring 3 days onsite weekly at the San Jose, Santana Row office.

You will lead technical strategy across cloud and on-prem services, own roadmaps, and raise engineering excellence through secure coding and CI/CD practices. You will collaborate with Product, UX, Architects, and customers to resolve complex production issues, improve security monitoring, and advance platform evolution.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 8+ years of experience; Master's with 6+ years preferred.
• Experience with distributed systems, databases or query optimization.
• Experience with cloud technologies (AWS, Azure or GCP).
• Experience with Python or Go/Golang.
• Experience with AI tools (Claude/Codex) to drive development and testing efficiency.
• Backend coding and system design experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical strategy and execution for multiple teams and backend/platform product areas across cloud and on-prem deployments, ensuring scalable, performant, reliable, secure, and maintainable systems.
• Own the technical roadmap and architectural integrity of backend services and data-processing workflows, bridging requirements and implementation using Agile guidelines.
• Raise engineering excellence through documentation, code review, secure coding, testing, observability, architecture standards, and CI/CD practices.
• Partner with Product Management, UX, Architects and customers to resolve production issues and deliver solutions that improve security monitoring, threat detection, compliance, and incident investigations.
• Mentor engineers, lead design sessions and architecture reviews, and build deep knowledge of product architecture and deployment models.

Skills

Backend coding

System design

Python

Go

AI tools (Claude/Codex)

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. is hiring for a senior backend architect in a hybrid role, requiring 3 days onsite weekly at the San Jose, Santana Row office.

You will lead technical strategy across cloud and on-prem services, own roadmaps, and raise engineering excellence through secure coding and CI/CD practices. You will collaborate with Product, UX, Architects, and customers to resolve complex production issues, improve security monitoring, and advance platform evolution.