Tech Lead - High-Performance Data Plane & DPUs

Cisco; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 214,000 - 310,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with Cisco matching

RSU grants

Paid time off

Job summary

Cisco is seeking a Software Engineer Technical Leader to design, develop, and optimize data plane software for Hypershield Smart Switches in a highly technical, hands-on role. You will write production‑quality C/C++ for Linux, lead architecture discussions, and mentor engineers across the organization.

You’ll collaborate with hardware, software, and security teams to deliver scalable, secure networking solutions and influence the technical direction of Cisco’s next‑gen switches.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field and 12+ years of related experience
• Master’s degree with 10+ years or PhD with 7+ years of related experience
• 10+ years of professional software development experience using C or C++ in Linux environments
• Experience developing networking or data plane software with knowledge of Layer 2/Layer 3 and common networking protocols
• Experience developing or optimizing high‑performance packet processing applications using DPDK or similar technologies
• Experience designing, implementing, debugging, and delivering production‑quality systems software

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and optimize the data plane software powering Cisco Hypershield Smart Switches
• Write production‑quality code and solve complex networking problems
• Lead technical design discussions and participate in architecture and code reviews
• Provide technical mentorship across the engineering organization
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to deliver networking and security capabilities for Cisco Hypershield Smart Switches
• Work across the full software development lifecycle from design to customer issue resolution

Skills

C/C++ on Linux

Data plane software

DPDK

Production‑quality software

DPUs/SmartNICs experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/CE/EE or related field

Master’s degree

PhD

Tools

DPDK

Job description

Cisco is seeking a Software Engineer Technical Leader to design, develop, and optimize data plane software for Hypershield Smart Switches in a highly technical, hands-on role. You will write production‑quality C/C++ for Linux, lead architecture discussions, and mentor engineers across the organization.

You’ll collaborate with hardware, software, and security teams to deliver scalable, secure networking solutions and influence the technical direction of Cisco’s next‑gen switches.