Principal Tetragon Software Engineer

About the role

Tetragon is a flexible, Kubernetes-aware observability and security tool that delivers real-time insights and enforcement. As a Principal Engineer, you will be at the forefront of advancing Tetragon’s capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Develop high-quality Go (and eBPF) code for the Tetragon project.
• Extend Tetragon capabilities to mitigate security vulnerabilities.
• Examples include: Enhance Tetragon to better understand and control the execution flow of native (e.g., written in C/C++) or runtime-based (Java, Python, Go, etc.) applications.
• Enhance Tetragon to filter malicious network packets that can trigger vulnerabilities in applications / systems.
• Enhance Tetragon, and potentially the kernel and the eBPF sub-system, to mitigate against kernel-level vulnerabilities.
• Design and optimize systems to deploy and manage Tetragon across large fleets, in K8s or other environments (VMs).
• Architect infrastructure that converts raw event data into intelligence streams with minimal performance overhead.
• Partner across teams to align requirements, define integration points, and deliver production-ready solutions.
• Contribute to open-source projects and represent Cisco Isovalent in community discussions.
• Participate in architecture reviews, code reviews, and documentation.

Requirements

• Bachelors + 15 years of related experience, or Masters + 12 years of related experience, or PhD + 8 years of related experience or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in systems programming (C, C++, Go, Rust, or similar; Tetragon is primarily written in Go).
• Proven experience leading technical direction or architecture for runtime security systems, observability, or similar.
• Experience in OS-level development, distributed systems, or database systems.
• Experience in debugging and performance optimization with a track record of delivering scalable systems.

Qualifications

• Experience building eBPF-based systems for observability or security use cases.
• Solid background in Linux systems and kernel-level concepts.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and cloud-native environments.
• Familiarity with CVE workflows, vulnerability data pipelines, or security event modeling.
• Familiarity with how vulnerable software is exploited at all levels.
• Strong experience in networking protocol analysis or experience in developing networking switches (e.g., L2/L3 protocols like ARP, DHCP, SNMP).
• Contributions to open-source projects in networking, observability, or distributed systems.
• Experience working across diverse, distributed teams.

Skills

• Proficiency in Go and eBPF.
• Experience with Kubernetes and cloud-native environments.
• Knowledge of Linux systems and kernel-level concepts.
• Experience with CVE workflows and vulnerability data pipelines.
• Experience with networking protocol analysis and switch development.
• Experience with open-source project contributions.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• A 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave.
• Short and long-term disability coverage.
• Basic life insurance.

Pay

The starting salary range posted for this position is $231,400.00 to $331,800.00 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.

Schedule

Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.