Software Engineer (Control Plane) --Hypershield

The application window is expected to close on: Aug 18.

NOTE: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Who We Are

As part of Cisco's Security Business Group, the Security Innovation team incubates ideas for the leading provider of network security services, which enables the world to connect with confidence on any device, anywhere, anytime. Our product portfolio includes the cloud delivered firewall, Web proxy, Zero Trust Proxy, NaaS integrations, and inspection services as highly available distributed systems using cloud engineering practices. We are now engineering a highly available distributed security fabric that brings it all together, Cisco Hypershield. We are highly passionate about the interconnected SASE world, and this is part of our continued commitment to offer customer-focused security products at the edge of technology.

Cisco Hypershield protects applications, devices and data across public and private data centers, clouds and physical locations - anywhere customers need it. Designed and built with AI in mind from the start, Hypershield enables organizations to achieve security outcomes beyond what has been possible with humans alone.

Your Impact

You are a passionate and energetic software engineer with a strong foundation in networking and a drive for hands-on coding and innovation. You thrive in a fast-paced environment where you can contribute directly to customer-driven product development and leverage cutting-edge technologies. You possess hands-on experience with virtualization and container technologies (e.g., Docker), software data and control plane software with a strong understanding of Computer Networking - L3/L4/L7, TCP, UDP, IP, HTTP, DNS. Experience with Cloud-native architectures, microservices, and cloud applications is also helpful. You will use your versatile background to drive key feature development in our Management, Control, and Data Planes.

This role emphasizes hands-on coding, with an expectation of at least 70% coding responsibilities, alongside design contributions. Typical areas of responsibility include (but not limited to) security policy engine, policy management, anomaly detection through graph traversals, RBAC, licensing, NetFlow IPFIX logging, plugins to process packet streams, high-availability architecture, and lots of build and release areas to get our control plane and data plane to run in a variety of DPUs. Typical responsibilities in these areas may include:

• Proactively identify and participate in the resolution of complex problems that impact the direction of the business.
• Develop and deliver innovative strategies that benefit customers and or clients.
• Participate in the development and implementation of software development life cycle and agile engineering strategies across applicable teams in anticipation of the changing software development environment.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of features focusing on configuring Network Processing Units (NPUs) or Data Processing Units (DPUs) and developing DPDK applications.

Minimum Qualifications for this Role:

• 8+ years professional programming experience in the industry, with programming languages that include Go, C, or C++.
• Experience with IP Networking, Ethernet, TCP/IP applications, with a focus on configuring Network Processing Units (NPUs) or Data Processing Units (DPUs) and developing DPDK applications.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field.

Preferred Qualifications and Experience:

• Strong background in network security applications and products (e.g., firewalls, secure web gateways, and/or SASE/SSE).
• Prior experience in programming components/features for management planes, control or data planes for security solutions.
• For candidates with C/C++ experience, strong working knowledge in control plane areas such as firewalling and Kubernetes.
• Experience using generative AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Winserv) to enhance software development processes, including code generation, debugging, and rapid prototyping.

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. Simply put - we power the future.

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:

When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees have to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.

Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days of vacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco's flexible Vacation Time Off policy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco's Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter. Up to 80 hours of unused sick time will be carried forward from one calendar year to the next such that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is 160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. 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 up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.