Site Reliability Engineer I (Full Time) — United States

Cisco; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco in Durham, NC is seeking an entry-level Site Reliability Engineer to help maintain platform health and learn modern cloud operations under senior mentors. You will monitor telemetry, assist with incident triage, and contribute to automated runbooks to reduce troubleshooting.

You’ll collaborate with SRE and Product teams to improve observability and participate in a structured on-call rotation. Ideal candidates hold a CS/CE/IT degree, and have basic scripting in Python, Bash or Go, plus a

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or related field.
• Qualifying education and work experience should align with CS/CE/IT disciplines.
• Basic scripting or programming capability in Python, Bash, Go, or similar language for automation and log parsing.

Responsibilities

• Monitor telemetry across multi-tenant cloud environments to maintain health and uptime.
• Assist incident triage and response with senior engineers to resolve service-impacting events promptly.
• Run and improve automated operational runbooks to reduce repetitive troubleshooting.
• Contribute to Post-Incident Reviews by documenting timelines and identifying preventive solutions.
• Collaborate with SRE and Product teams to enhance observability dashboards and health signals.
• Participate in structured on-call rotation with mentorship to support reliability.

Skills

Python/Bash/Go scripting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Computer Engineering / Information Technology

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

OpenTelemetry

Prometheus

Grafana

Terraform

Ansible

Puppet

GitHub Copilot

Job description

Please note this posting is to advertise potential job opportunities. This exact role may not be open today but could open in the near future. When you apply, a Cisco representative may contact you directly if a relevant position opens.

Applications are accepted until further notice.

Meet the team

Cisco’s Reliability and Cloud Platform Engineering teams ensure the resilience, scalability, and 24/7 availability of our global cloud infrastructure and next-generation services. We design, monitor, and optimize distributed systems that empower enterprise organizations around the globe to thrive.

We are a collaborative community committed to mentorship, innovation, and career development. Joining our team offers early-career engineers hands-on exposure to cloud technologies, modern observability tools, and automated operations within a supportive environment where your ideas and curiosity are always valued.

Your impact

Role

As an entry-level Site Reliability Engineer, you will play an active role in maintaining platform health and learning modern cloud operations alongside experienced mentors. In this role, you will:

• Monitor infrastructure and application telemetry across multi-tenant cloud environments to help maintain platform health and uptime.
• Assist with incident triage and response workflows alongside senior engineers to resolve service-impacting events promptly.
• Execute and suggest improvements to automated operational runbooks and standard procedures to reduce repetitive troubleshooting steps.
• Contribute to Post-Incident Reviews (PIRs) by documenting event timelines and helping identify permanent preventive solutions.
• Collaborate with Site Reliability Engineering and Product teams to enhance observability dashboards, alert hygiene, and system health signals.
• Participate in a structured operational on-call rotation with team mentorship to support global cloud platform reliability.

Minimum Qualifications

• A Bachelor's degree (completed within the past 3 years or expected to be completed within the next 12 months).
• Qualifying education and work experience should be in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Basic scripting or programming capability in Python, Bash, Go, or a similar language for automation and log parsing.
• Demonstrated curiosity, analytical troubleshooting skills, and enthusiasm for collaborating within a fast-learning team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Academic coursework or project exposure to cloud platforms (such as Amazon Cloud, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure).
• Introductory experience with containerization technologies, such as Docker or basic Kubernetes concepts.
• Familiarity with observability and logging tools (such as Splunk SPL, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, or Grafana) through labs, internships, or personal projects.
• Exposure to infrastructure automation concepts or configuration management tools (such as Terraform, Ansible, or Puppet).
• Curiosity about using modern AI developer tools (such as GitHub Copilot or Claude) to accelerate scripting and operational runbook documentation.

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:

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)
• 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

$107,800.00 - $157,400.00

Non-Metro New York State & Washington State

$94,800.00 - $140,000.00

• 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.