Software Engineer

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

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a senior backend engineer to own end-to-end delivery of large distributed data pipelines. You will design, implement, and operate high-throughput software for edge and cloud integrations using Go or C++.

The role requires leading technical direction, code reviews, and mentoring engineers. We value strong fundamentals in concurrency, memory management, and streaming systems such as Kafka or Pulsar.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related technical field; 7+ years backend software development, or Master’s with 4+ years of related experience.
• Proficiency in Go or C++ with concurrency and memory management.
• Experience architecting, deploying, and scaling high-volume data processing pipelines.
• Experience with high-performance data paths in streaming ingestion systems like Kafka, Pulsar, Spark, Elastic.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of complex projects spanning multiple months and the full software development cycle.
• Set technical vision for the team and provide coding/design guidelines.
• Identify bottlenecks and resolve pre-production bottlenecks and production issues.
• Engage in design and code reviews; mentor engineers; participate in on-call rotations.

Skills

Go

C++

Distributed systems

Kafka

Pulsar

Spark

Concurrency

OpenTelemetry

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in CS/Engineering

Master’s Degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Kafka

Pulsar

Spark

OpenTelemetry

Kubernetes

Job description

Meet the Team

The Edge Processor Team serves as the foundational engine of the Splunk Integrated Data Platform, architecting and maintaining high-throughput pipelines that process petabytes of data on the customer’s edge environment. 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

Leading the end-to-end delivery of complex projects that span the timeline of multiple months, including the complete software development cycle: Understand requirements, writing system design documents, develop, test, automate and deploy software. Set technical vision for the team, including improving the process, providing coding and design guidelines to set a high engineering standard. Identify and resolve pre-production system bottlenecks and production issues. Engage in design and code reviews of the product, and enhance your knowledge of customers’ experiences to prevent future problems. Make code maintainable and the product diagnosable and serviceable. Participate in rotating on-call duties to diagnose and solve customer issues.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field and 7+ years of experience in backend software development, with a focus on large-scale distributed systems or Master's Degree with 4+ years of related experience. Experience with Go or C++ programming language, and working with concurrency models and memory management. Experience architecting, deploying, and scaling high-volume data processing pipelines systems. Experience with high-performance data paths in streaming ingestion systems like Kafka, Pulsar, Spark, Elastic. Including analyzing network traffic, protocol behavior, and diagnostic data to resolve throughput, latency, and reliability issues.

Preferred Qualifications

Familiarity and experience with observability platform using Open Telemetry. Infrastructure experience with Kubernetes and on-premise deployments. Ability to influence technical strategy and align stakeholders across multiple teams and organizational levels. Demonstrated success in leading complex 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.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada

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. 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: $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.