Software Engineer (Backend)

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 138,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k) with match

Paid parental leave

Disability coverage

Life insurance

RSU grants

Volunteer time off

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. in Seattle seeks a backend engineer to design, build, and operate REST APIs and durable workflows powering data management products. You will lead features end-to-end, own services in production, and mentor junior engineers.

The role emphasizes clean code, rigorous testing, and pragmatic architectural decisions in a collaborative team within a hybrid/remote Seattle environment (PST).

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + 5 years of related experience or Master's + 3 years.
• Experience in backend languages (Go, Java, C++, Python) or similar.
• Experience designing, building, and operating REST APIs and backend services.
• Familiarity with data structures, algorithms, software design, CI/CD, testing, and production debugging.
• Experience with cloud-native architecture on public cloud (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate customer-facing REST APIs and backend services in Go at scale.
• Lead small-to-medium features from design through coding, testing, and review.
• Own services in production: monitor, on-call, postmortems, and root-cause analysis.
• Write clean, well-tested, secure code and perform thoughtful code reviews.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, designers, frontend and other backend teams.
• Mentor junior engineers and interns through pairing and feedback.

Skills

Backend development

REST APIs

Go

Java

C++

Python

CI/CD

Cloud computing

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/02/2026

Meet the Team

The Platform Experience Backend team builds the APIs and durable workflows behind Splunk's data management products. We enable customers to route, transform, and process their data at the edge and in the cloud, and to store and query it at massive scale in a modern data lake. We're working on exciting, unannounced big data products that will expand what Cisco and Splunk customers can do with their data in AI workflows. We are a collaborative, high-performing group of engineers who value clean code, rigorous testing, and pragmatic architectural decisions. We foster a supportive hybrid/remote environment based in Seattle (PST), where technical excellence and continuous learning are the norms. Joining us is an opportunity to solve complex distributed systems challenges at a scale few other organizations can offer.

Your Impact

• Design, build, and operate customer-facing REST APIs and backend services in Go that power our Data Management products, including complex and long-running operations at scale.
• Lead small-to-medium features from technical design through coding, testing, code review, and production.
• Own your services in production: monitor them, take on-call shifts, and lead postmortems and root‑cause analysis.
• Write clean, well‑tested, secure code and give thoughtful code reviews that raise the team's engineering standards.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, designers, frontend engineers, and adjacent backend teams to ship cohesive solutions.
• Mentor junior engineers and interns through pairing, design feedback, and code review.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + 5 years of related experience, or Master's degree + 3 years of related experience
• Experience in backend languages; (i.e. Golang, Java, C++, Python, or similar)
• Experience designing, building, and operating REST APIs and backend services in production
• Experience with data structures, algorithms, software design; and CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and production debugging
• Experience with cloud-native architecture on a public cloud (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including Docker and Kubernetes

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical decisions to diverse stakeholders in design docs and in person.
• Experience with high-volume data pipelines, streaming technologies, data lakes, or SQL.
• Distributed systems experience such as workflow orchestration, durable jobs, or long-running operations.
• Enthusiasm for AI tools across the software development lifecycle, with accountability for AI‑assisted output.

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.

Compensation and Benefits

• The starting salary range posted for this position is $138,100.00 to $198,200.00 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.
• 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: $155,000.00 - $256,000.00 Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state: $138,100.00 - $227,900.00 * 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.

Company Culture

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.