Technical Leader - Software

Meet the Team

The Cisco Distributed System Engineering (DSE) group is at the forefront of developing products that power the largest networks in the world. The networking industry is going through a massive transformation to build the next generation infrastructure to meet the needs of AI/ML workloads and continuously increasing internet users and application. We are uniquely positioned to capture that market transition. This team builds products by harnessing the potential of open-source technologies while pushing the boundaries on Systems and Silicon Architecture.

You will be working among engineers who are passionate about tackling complex technology, building large scale distributed systems and comfortable working with open-source communities and technologies. You will be part of a fast-paced work environment and responsible for end-to-end product development and production support.

Your Impact

Software Development & Integration:

Lead the design, development, and deployment of software solutions leveraging SONiC to interface with hardware infrastructure and platform-level components.

Develop and maintain platform adaptation layers for seamless integration between SONiC and underlying hardware (e.g., ASICs, BMC, and other platform elements).

Collaborate with hardware teams to enable optimal hardware-software interactions and expose hardware capabilities through SONiC interfaces.

Write, review, and optimize code for critical system modules, drivers, and APIs supporting high-performance data planes and control planes.

System Architecture and Design:

Define the technical architecture to integrate SONiC with platform infrastructure, ensuring scalability and high availability.

Design robust interfaces between SONiC and platform-specific management/control modules (e.g., telemetry, diagnostics, and security components).

Lead efforts to optimize resource utilization, power efficiency, and operational stability of the network platform.

Leadership and Mentorship:

Provide technical direction to the development team, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers on software engineering best practices and advanced networking concepts.

Coordinate cross-functional activities between software, hardware, QA, and systems integration teams.

Drive code reviews, technical discussions, and issue resolution to ensure timely and quality deliverables.

Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement:

Act as a key liaison with open-source SONiC communities, contributing to upstream development and leveraging community innovations.

Collaborate with product management and customers to understand use cases, gather requirements, and align deliverables with business objectives.

Lead the evaluation and adoption of new tools, technologies, and methodologies to accelerate development and testing cycles.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelors of Science

8+ YOE in software development within the networking or telecommunication industry

Software development experience with Linux based platforms or other like network operating systems such as SONiC

Experience with platform infrastructure such as ASIC drivers, BMC, and network OS development

Experience working with virtualization, containerization, and orchestration frameworks such as Docker, Kubernetes and/or similar

Experience leading teams or technical projects in a complex development environment

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in CI/CD pipelines and automated testing frameworks

Experience with platform level security requirements and compliance frameworks

Understanding of telemetry systems and software-defined networking (SDN)

Exposure to SONiC or experience working with the SONiC open-source community

Knowledge of hardware abstraction layers and SDKs from major networking silicon providers (such as Broadcom, Marvell, Mellanox etc)

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#WeAreCisco where every individual brings their unique skills and perspectives together to pursue our purpose of powering an inclusive future for all. Our passion is connection?we celebrate our employees? diverse set of backgrounds and focus on unlocking potential. Cisconians often experience one company, many careers where learning and development are encouraged and supported at every stage. Our technology, tools, and culture pioneered hybrid work trends, allowing all to not only give their best, but be their best. Cisco Confidential We understand our outstanding opportunity to bring communities together and at the heart of that is our people. One-third of Cisconians collaborate in our 30 employee resource organizations, called Inclusive Communities, to connect, foster belonging, learn to be informed allies, and make a difference. Dedicated paid time off to volunteer?80 hours each year?allows us to give back to causes we are passionate about, and nearly 86% do! Our purpose, driven by our people, is what makes us the worldwide leader in technology that powers the internet. Helping our customers reimagine their applications, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals is what we do best. We ensure that every step we take is a step towards a more inclusive future for all. Take your next step and be you, with us!

Cisco is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis.

Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.