Principal Software Engineer

Meet the Team

You will join Cisco's Platform & Identity Engineering Group, a foundational group responsible for building and scaling the core platform services that power Cisco's products and experiences. The team focuses on delivering secure, scalable platform capabilities that enable consistent management of security products across Cisco's portfolio. This organization partners closely with engineering, security, and product teams across multiple technology and business groups to provide the underlying systems that support Cisco's innovation. The work spans cloud, security, and platform infrastructure, with an emphasis on reliability, interoperability, and long-term scalability.

Your Impact

• Innovate, develop, and drive data platform and security-focused troubleshooting application as foundational platform components that enable visibility, analytics, automation, and operational insights across the Security portfolio.
• Act as an internal, external, and industry expert, applying deep technical expertise to provide guidance and consultation on complex challenges.
• Serve as a domain expert or cross-domain integrator, leveraging breadth of knowledge to connect emerging technology trends and assess their impact on Cisco products.
• Guide and set standards for the technical direction of Cisco's software and technology solutions, influencing industry trends, business leaders, and Cisco's technical community.
• Ensure the development, execution, and enablement of technology strategies that deliver long-term business impact.
• Stay ahead of evolving technology and industry trends, shaping innovation and enabling Cisco to maintain a strong competitive advantage.
• Partner across engineering, product, and business teams to translate strategic vision into scalable, high-impact solutions.
• Mentor and influence senior technical leaders, driving architectural consistency and engineering excellence across the organization.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field with 12+ years of experience designing and developing large-scale software, platform, or distributed systems.
• Experience building and scaling highly available, secure, and distributed systems in cloud or hybrid environments.
• Experience writing high-quality, production-grade code using modern programming languages (e.g., Go, Rust, or C++).
• 5+ years of experience with security, privacy, and data protection principles as applied to platform and identity systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Master's or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• Recognized technical leadership as a domain expert or cross-domain integrator influencing architecture across multiple product lines or business units.
• Experience driving platform strategy in large-scale enterprise or cloud environments.
• Experience integrating systems with broader platform services such as observability, data platforms, or AI/ML-driven systems.
• Track record of influencing technical direction and aligning stakeholders across a large, matrixed organization.
• Experience defining technical architecture and driving end-to-end system design across multiple teams or organizations.
• Contributions to industry standards, open-source projects, patents, or publications.
• Ability to translate emerging technology trends into long-term strategic direction and business impact.

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.

Pay & Benefits

Salary range: $231,400.00 to $331,800.00 (projected for new hires in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits). Individual pay is determined by hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training.

Benefits (U.S. employees): Medical, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution; paid parental leave; short and long-term disability coverage; basic life insurance; eligibility for grants of Cisco restricted stock units (vesting following continued employment for defined periods).

Paid time away (U.S. employees): 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; 4 paid days off for personal wellness; non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year (accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time); exempt employees participate in flexible vacation time off program (no defined limit); 80 hours of sick time provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, with up to 80 hours carried forward; additional paid time away may be requested for family emergencies; optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.

Bonus and incentive pay (non-sales roles): Eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco's policies.

Sales roles: Performance-based incentive pay on top of base salary, split between quota and non-quota components. For quota-based incentive pay: 0.75% 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%; above 100% attainment, incentive rates at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap. For non-quota-based sales performance elements (e.g., 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.

Location-specific full salary ranges: New York City Metro Area: $231,400.00 - $381,600.00; Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $222,900.00 - $343,600.00. For quota-based sales roles, ranges include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined. Employees in Illinois participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.

This is a hybrid position working onsite in San Jose. The application window is expected to close on 08/31/2026; posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.