Software Engineer, Test Automation

Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose is seeking a software engineer to build test infrastructure for our AI-agentic SOC, shaping the strategic direction to secure reliability and performance of our most complex systems.

You will mentor world-class engineering talent, drive groundbreaking benchmarking, and advance our quality ecosystems. You will translate quality challenges into scalable solutions, collaborating across teams, implementing evaluation strategies, and leveraging Python and Go to develop

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree plus 8+ years of software development and test automation experience.
• Experience in Python and Go with designing scalable, maintainable testing infrastructure.
• Experience with security compliance frameworks.
• Experience with modern performance testing methodologies.
• Experience using AI to build automation.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development of PQ foundations and evaluation frameworks.
• Develop AI-based testing solutions or agents to mitigate risk and enhance system integrity.
• Collaborate with team members; participate in code and design reviews; validate technical hypotheses.
• Implement lifecycle of proofs-of-concept (POCs) and validate testing paradigms.
• Maintain testing processes to deliver reliable, high-quality outcomes aligned with team goals.
• Apply validation techniques including LLM-as-judge methodologies and tenant isolation probes.
• Partner with engineering teams to implement contract testing, audit log validation, and security compliance.

Skills

Python

Go

Test automation

AI testing

Security compliance

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Playwright

LangChain

LangSmith

K6

JMeter

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 09/17/2026

Meet the Team

Are you ready to shape the future of AI-powered quality? We are seeking a software engineer to build test infrastructure for our AI-agentic Security Operations Center (SOC)! Together, we define the strategic direction that secures the absolute reliability and performance of our most complex systems. We work to mentor world-class engineering talent, drive the adoption of groundbreaking benchmarking, and catalyze the evolution of our quality ecosystems. Join us as we work to transform high-level challenges into scalable, high-impact solutions.

Your Impact

This role is designed for an engineer who translates quality challenges into technical solutions, driving engineering efficiency through evaluation strategies and implementation. In this role, you will collaborate with team members and implement benchmarking protocols that support our technical performance goals. Responsibilities include:

• Technical Contribution: Contribute to the development of PQ foundations and evaluation frameworks, ensuring assessment capabilities for AI agents, workflows, and system processes.
• Methodology Implementation: Find opportunities in testing methodologies and develop AI-based solutions or agents to mitigate risk and enhance system integrity.
• Technical Collaboration & Support: Support the team by collaborating with members, participating in code and design reviews, and assisting in the validation of technical hypotheses.
• Experimental Execution: Implement the lifecycle of proof-of-concepts (POCs), adhering to standards for experimentation and the validation of testing paradigms.
• Quality Ecosystem Maintenance: Ensure that testing processes deliver reliable, high-quality outcomes, maintaining alignment with team quality goals.
• Validation Execution: Implement validation techniques, including LLM-as-judge methodologies, tenant isolation probes, and behavioral regression suites.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with engineering teams to implement contract testing, audit log validation, and security compliance, ensuring integration of quality across the development lifecycle.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree plus 8+ years of experience in software development and test automation, including experience building large-scale testing ecosystems.
• Demonstrated experience in programming, specifically Python and Go, with a proven ability to design scalable, maintainable, and high-performance testing infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience with security compliance frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience with modern performance testing methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience using AI to build automation (writing AI skills to build test automation).

Preferred Qualifications

• Problem-Solving: Capacity to translate quality challenges into structured and actionable technical implementations.
• Technical Vision: Ability to innovate within the AI/ML landscape, applying modern tooling to drive detection efficacy and system reliability.
• Test Automation: Go, Python, Contract testing frameworks, Playwright.
• Security & Compliance: Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework (OCSF) validation libraries, vacuum linter, Caldera, tenant isolation probes, and audit log validation.
• AI/ML Testing: Expertise in LLM APIs (Claude, Codex), prompt engineering, and the design of agentic workflows. Proficiency in LangChain and LangSmith to ensure model reliability, AI behavioral regression, and LLM-as-judge frameworks.
• Performance Testing: K6, Terra Virtual Machine (Security Suite), and JMeter.

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 $167,700.00 to $245,200.00 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. 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.