Software Engineer - Security Content

Cisco; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 155,000 - 223,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco is seeking a Software Engineer for the Security Content Engineering team in a hybrid role based in San Jose. You will design, build, test, and maintain software that supports security content workflows, data normalization, automation, and customer-facing capabilities across the Splunk security portfolio.

You will own medium to complex features, develop deep product understanding, and improve tooling, testing, and release processes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in STEM required or Master's degree with relevant experience
• Proficiency in Python or Go programming
• Experience with automated testing, CI/CD, source control, code review and release practices
• Strong background in software design, data structures, algorithms, REST APIs and debugging
• Experience delivering backend systems, automation frameworks, data processing or platform tooling

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, and maintain software features that support security content workflows
• Own moderate to complex features from planning through release and support
• Understand product architecture, customer use cases, deployment patterns, and security content workflows
• Improve tooling, test automation, documentation, release processes, and operational workflows
• Apply AI-assisted engineering practices to accelerate design, coding, testing, and reviews while preserving quality
• Develop AI-assisted tools to reduce manual security content mapping work and improve consistency
• Troubleshoot and resolve customer-impacting issues, vulnerabilities, blockers, and production defects
• Participate in design reviews, code reviews, sprints, and cross-team collaboration
• Mentor junior engineers through code reviews, design feedback, and documentation

Skills

Python

Go

Automated testing

CI/CD

REST APIs

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Tools

N/A

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/22/2026

This is a hybrid position requiring 3 days a week onsite at our San Jose, Cisco office

Meet the Team

The Security Content Engineering team builds and maintains the systems, applications, data schema, and automation that support Splunk Security content. The team plays a key role in helping customers detect, investigate, and respond to threats by improving how security content is developed, validated, published, and consumed.

The team partners closely with Product Management, Architects, Threat Research, Customer Success, and other engineering teams across Splunk and Cisco. We work in a collaborative environment that values strong technical execution, practical problem solving, ownership, and continuous improvement.

In this role, you will help design, build, test, and maintain software that supports security content workflows, data normalization, automation, release quality, and customer-facing capabilities across the Splunk security portfolio.

Your Impact

• Design, develop, test, and maintain high-quality software features, services, tools, and applications that support security content engineering workflows.
• Own moderate to complex features from scoping and design through implementation, validation, release, and operational support.
• Build a deep understanding of product architecture, customer use cases, deployment patterns, and security content workflows to deliver practical, high-value solutions.
• Improve team efficiency and engineering quality by improving tooling, test automation, documentation, release processes, and operational workflows.
• Use AI-assisted engineering practices to accelerate design, coding, testing, and review while maintaining high software quality.
• Build AI-assisted tools that reduce manual security content mapping work and improve mapping consistency.
• Troubleshoot and resolve customer-impacting issues, security vulnerabilities, release blockers, and production-quality defects.
• Participate in design reviews, code reviews, sprint planning, technical discussions, and cross-team execution.
• Mentor junior engineers through code reviews, design feedback, documentation, and technical guidance.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in STEM with 5+ years of experience or Master’s degree in STEM with 3+ years of experience
• Programming experience with languages such as Python or Go.
• Experience with automated testing, CI/CD workflows, source control, code review, and release practices.
• Experience in software design, data structures, algorithms, REST APIs, debugging, testing, or writing maintainable code.
• Experience designing and delivering backend systems, applications, automation frameworks, data processing workflows, or platform tooling.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Splunk platform, Splunk Enterprise Security, SPL, security analytics, detection engineering, or security content workflows.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity concepts, data normalization, security schemas, or frameworks such as CIM or OCSF.
• Experience building or maintaining developer tooling, automation pipelines, test frameworks, or publishing/release systems.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools or automation to improve engineering productivity, mapping accuracy, or security content operations.
• Understanding of secure coding practices, vulnerability remediation, dependency scanning, and software supply chain security.

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 $155,000.00 to $222,600.00 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

$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.
• Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.