Software Engineering Technical Leader

Cisco; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 187,000 - 268,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco's Intersight SRE team is seeking a Technical Leader to drive reliability, scalability, and security of our cloud platforms. You will lead a seasoned group of engineers, shaping the technical roadmap and delivering with accountability.

You will collaborate across product, security, and customers, bringing hands-on SRE experience in AWS, container platforms, and observability to multi-region SaaS services.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required with 8+ years related experience or Master’s with 6+ years or PhD with 3+ years.
• Experience designing scalable, reliable, production-ready solutions.
• Experience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS, and IaC using Terraform or Ansible.
• Experience with Linux, Docker, Kubernetes/EKS, networking, security, and CI/CD.
• Experience with observability and monitoring platforms, including metrics, logging, tracing, dashboards, and alerting.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for the Intersight SRE team, driving reliability and operational excellence.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, influence, and deliver scalable SaaS systems across regions.
• Lead architecture discussions and mentor engineers to implement secure, reliable cloud infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience in AWS and software development practices to optimize service performance and availability.

Skills

SRE leadership

Cloud system design

Python/Go

Cross-functional collaboration

Security best practices

Education

Bachelor’s degree +8 years experience

Master’s degree +6 years experience

PhD +3 years experience

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

AWS

Linux

Docker/Kubernetes

EKS

CI/CD

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/12/2026 eMeet the Team As a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Technical Leader on the Intersight Team you will play a key role in ensuring the reliability, scalability, and security of our cloud platforms. The broader team is composed of experienced engineers who value innovation and accountability. You will represent the Intersight SRE team, working in a dynamic environment, tackling challenges with creativity, providing technical leadership in defining and delivering on the team's technical roadmap. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including software development, product management, customers and security teams, to design, influence, build, and maintain SaaS systems operating at multi-region scale. Your work will directly impact the success of our initiatives by ensuring the underlying platform infrastructure is robust, efficient, and aligned with operational excellence. Your Impact We are seeking an experienced technical leader to help lead and influence a high-performing SRE team responsible for the reliability, scalability, and operational excellence of our cloud services. The ideal candidate will have strong hands-on SRE or systems/network administration experience, with familiarity in AWS. This role involves close collaboration across product engineering, service engineering, and SRE teams in a high-trust, well-coordinated environment.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s +8 years of related experience, or Master’s +6 years of related experience or PhD +3 years of related experience
• Experience designing and implementing scalable, reliable, and production-ready solutions.
• Experience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform or Ansible.
• Experience with Linux, Docker, Kubernetes/EKS, networking, security, and CI/CD.
• Experience with observability and monitoring platforms, including metrics, logging, tracing, dashboards, and alerting.
• Experience in Python, Go, or similar programming languages, with a strong understanding of software development principles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience architecting, building, and operating highly available cloud platforms and infrastructure at scale.
• Ability to handle multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Experience in architecting software and infrastructure at scale with a sense of ownership and accountability.
• Passion for learning and applying new technologies to deliver customer impact.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts and influence across diverse teams.
• Experience with cloud, infrastructure, or application security and security best practices is preferred.
• Experience providing technical leadership, mentoring engineers, and influencing teams across organizational boundaries is preferred.
• Relevant certifications such as CKA, CKAD, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, or equivalent cloud/security certifications.

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 $186,900.00 to $267,700.00 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

$186,900.00 - $307,800.00

Non-Metro New York State & Washington State

$166,300.00 - $274,100.00

• 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.