Software Engineering Technical Leader - SRE

Cisco Systems, Inc.; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 178,000 - 257,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. on the Intersight team seeks a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Technical Leader to guide reliability, scalability, and security of our cloud platforms.

You’ll lead cross‑functional collaboration across product, security, and service teams, shaping the technical roadmap and mentoring engineers to deliver enterprise‑grade data infrastructure. Responsibilities include designing fault‑tolerant systems, implementing monitoring and automation, and driving a culture of

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher with 12+ years of related experience, or Master's/PhD with 8/5+ years respectively.
• Experience designing scalable, reliable, production-ready solutions.
• Experience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS, and IaC (Terraform or Ansible).
• Experience with Linux, Docker, Kubernetes/EKS, networking, security, and CI/CD.
• Experience with observability and monitoring tools.
• Proficiency in Python, Go, or similar languages.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize cloud and data infrastructure for high availability and scalability using SRE principles.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to create secure, scalable solutions and improve operational efficiency through automation.
• Troubleshoot production issues, perform root cause analyses, and contribute to postmortems and optimization.
• Lead architectural vision and roadmap, balancing immediate needs with long-term goals.
• Mentor and lead teams, promoting engineering and operational excellence.

Skills

AWS

Terraform

Ansible

Linux

Docker

Kubernetes/EKS

Networking

Security

CI/CD

Observability

Python

Go

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/14/2026

Meet 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 Engineer to encourage and represent a high-performing team dedicated to ensuring the reliability and scalability of cloud services, with a focus on a rapidly growing next-generation project. The ideal candidate will have 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.

Responsibilities Include

• Design, build, and optimize cloud and data infrastructure to ensure the high availability, reliability, and scalability of systems to meet customer needs, while implementing SRE principles such as monitoring, alerting, error budgets, and fault analysis.
• Collaborate closely with multi‑functional teams, including customers, development, product management, and security teams, to create secure, scalable solutions and enhance operational efficiency through automation.
• Troubleshoot complex technical problems in production environments, perform root cause analyses, and contribute to continuous improvement efforts through postmortem reviews and proactive performance optimization.
• Lead the architectural vision and shape the team's technical strategy and roadmap, balancing immediate needs with long‑term goals, driving innovation, and influencing the technical direction.
• Serve as a mentor and technical leader, guiding teams and fostering a culture of engineering and operational excellence by sharing your deep knowledge and experience.
• Engage with customers and stakeholders to understand use cases and feedback, translating them into actionable insights and effectively influencing at all levels.
• Apply your strong programming skills to integrate software and systems engineering, building core data platform capabilities and automation to meet enterprise customer needs and roadmap objectives.
• Develop strategic roadmaps, processes, plans, and infrastructure to efficiently deploy new software components at an enterprise scale while enforcing engineering standards.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's +12 years of related experience, or Master's +8 years of related experience or PhD +5 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 tools
• Proficiency in Python, Go, or similar programming languages, with a strong understanding of software development principles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building/managing a cloud‑based data platform, automation and orchestration of their infrastructure and maintaining high availability, system reliability 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.
• Strong passion for learning, researching, and developing innovative technologies that deliver significant customer impact.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for non‑experts while fostering collaboration and driving excellence within diverse technical teams.
• Experience in providing technical leadership and mentoring engineers.
• Experience with cloud and infrastructure security.
• Certifications: CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator), CKAD (Certified Kubernetes Application Developer), AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, or equivalent certifications in cloud and security domains.

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 $177,600.00 to $257,400.00 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:

$214,100.00 - $356,300.00

Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state:

$192,400.00 - $317,200.00

* 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.