Sr Software Engineer

Cisco; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 139,000 - 204,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco’s CX Engineering organization is seeking a Sr. Software Engineer to help shape AI‑driven solutions across Cisco’s product and services portfolio.

You will build robust, scalable back‑end systems, leverage AI/ML capabilities, and partner with product teams to translate business needs into technical roadmaps. You will mentor peers, lead API design, and drive best practices in distributed architectures, Kubernetes, and real‑time data pipelines, delivering value to customers and partners

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 7+ years of related experience or Master's with 4+ related years of related experience.
• Proficient in Python development and one of Golang or TypeScript.
• Experience with modern backend frameworks such as FastAPI or Django.
• Experience with microservices and Kubernetes and cloud architectures (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted development environments (GitHub Copilot, Cursor) to accelerate SDLC while maintaining code quality.

Responsibilities

• Architect end-to-end back-end systems with high availability and scalable APIs (gRPC/REST).
• Design and implement MLOps pipelines spanning data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model deployment; integrate LLMs and generative AI.
• Implement event-driven architectures using Kafka for real-time data streaming and monitor production environments.
• Mentor peers, conduct rigorous code reviews, and raise coding standards across the team.
• Collaborate with product management to translate business needs into technical roadmaps and innovative solutions.

Skills

Python development

Golang

TypeScript

AI/ML concepts

MLOps familiarity

Mentorship

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/related field

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

FastAPI

Django

Kubernetes

AWS

Azure

GCP

Kafka

GitHub Copilot

Cursor

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 10/29/2026

Meet the Team

Cisco’s Customer Experience (CX) engineering organization is a global team of experts dedicated to delivering world‑class digital experiences by building advanced AI applications and capabilities through an industry leading platform centric approach with Cisco IQ. These capabilities provide high value directly to our customers and partners and empower our internal teams to deliver superior, data‑driven services. We pride ourselves on a culture that thrives on customer‑centricity and technical rigor, solving complex challenges leveraging AI/ML solutions.

Your Impact

As a Sr. Software Engineer in Cisco’s CX Engineering organization, you will play a critical role in shaping the future of AI‑driven solutions across our product and services portfolio. Leveraging your expertise in software engineering and AI/ML technologies, you will build robust, scalable systems that solve real‑world business challenges and deliver exceptional value for Cisco’s customers and partners.

• Architectural Leadership & Back‑End Systems: Lead projects end‑to‑end by architecting highly available, concurrent distributed systems. Define and enforce standards for high‑performance APIs (gRPC/REST), caching strategies, and sophisticated data modeling across relational and NoSQL environments.
• Advanced AI/ML Engineering: Design and implement comprehensive MLOps pipelines—spanning data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model deployment—and lead the integration of LLMs and generative AI solutions.
• Real‑Time Data & Infrastructure: Implement event‑driven architectures using Apache Kafka for real‑time data streaming. Monitor production environments to proactively identify systemic risks and drive continuous improvement.
• Mentorship & Influence: Elevate the team’s overall coding standards by actively mentoring peers and junior engineers, conducting rigorous code reviews, and providing technical guidance.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Partner with product management and other stakeholders to translate business needs into technical roadmaps and innovative engineering solutions.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degrees with 7+ years of related experience or Master’s with 4+ related years of related experience.
• Experience in Python development as well as an additional language such as Golang or TypeScript.
• Experience with modern backend frameworks such as FastAPI or Django or similar.
• Experience with microservices, Kubernetes as well as cloud‑native architectures such as AWS, Azure, GCP or similar.
• Experience leveraging AI‑assisted development environments, such as GitHub, or CoPilot or Cursor to accelerate the SDLC while maintaining code quality standards.
• Experience designing and maintaining production grade APIs and data pipelines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Product Development Experience: Demonstrated experience collaborating closely with product managers and front‑end teams to translate product requirements into scalable backend microservices and APIs within an Agile environment.
• MLOps & AI: Experience with MLOps tools, model monitoring, and utilizing ML models at scale.
• Distributed Systems: Experience with Apache Kafka, real‑time compute frameworks, and high‑performance data modeling. Expertise in hybrid/vector search architectures and large‑scale data pipeline management.
• Operational Excellence: Experience with secrets management (HashiCorp Vault), performance tuning, and advanced debugging/root cause analysis.
• Standards & Strategy: Experience setting technical standards, defining best practices, and driving the adoption of new technologies across teams.
• Soft Skills: Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity, drive technical consensus, and communicate complex architectural concepts to diverse stakeholders.
• Networking expertise: Cisco Networking knowledge is a strong plus.

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 $139,300.00 to $203,600.00 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

$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.