Senior Software Engineer- Networking Technologies

The application window is expected to close on: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received . Meet the Team The Cisco Distributed System Engineering (DSE) group owns the development of products that power the world’s largest networks, driving the industry’s transformation to support the growing demands of AI/ML workloads and increasing internet usage. By using open-source technologies and advancing Systems and Silicon Architecture, the team builds large-scale distributed systems and delivers end-to-end product development and production support in a fast-paced environment. Your Impact As a passionate software engineer, you bring expertise in developing scalable systems, designing robust platforms, and building infrastructure to support modern cloud and distributed computing initiatives. Your strong background in programming, distributed systems, and cloud platforms enables you to solve complex challenges with innovation and precision. You will be involved in working on the Cisco 8000 series of routers and involved in delivering multiple software features for the Silicon One ASIC in the area of NPU management and health monitoring, Fabric data path and security protocols. Your contributions ensure high-quality, reliable platforms that support Cisco’s leadership in intelligent, scalable technology solutions. Responsibilities: Develop and improve software modules within IOS-XR to support NPU or fabric sub-systems Contribute to XR platform software that interfaces with the ASICs for platform enablement, interrupt management, health monitoring of the fabric subsystem including performance qualification and resolving issues on the fabric datapath Contribute to platform software for security protocols such as MACSec Participate in debugging and resolving system-level issues across software and hardware boundaries. Contribute to the design of scalable and maintainable software components for NPU management Participate in unit testing, system testing, and automation efforts to ensure high-quality work. Conduct code reviews and mentor junior engineers Minimum Qualifications: Bachelors 6 years of related experience OR Masters 4 years of related experience OR PhD 1 year of related experience. Programming experience in C/C. Experience using Python to build automated test suites for kernel module validation, including experience with frameworks like Pytest. Experience with Linux Operating Sytems and debugging tools. Experience with core networking technologies, including TCP/IP, routers, switches, and Network Processing Units (NPUs). Preferred Qualifications: Understanding of Linux operating systems, development/debugging tools, and memory management. Experience designing and implementing multi-threaded applications and architectures. Ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex, system-level issues across multiple integrated components. Experience with industry-standard debugging tools (e.g., GDB) and memory analysis tools (e.g., Valgrind). Experience leveraging AI-powered tools to enhance coding, code reviews, and testing workflows. Experience developing and maintaining unit test (UT) automation frameworks. Knowledge of MACsec, PCIe, or DMA is considered a plus. Understanding of tools such as GIT, Bitbake, Jira, Jenkins and CI/CD pipeline tools. 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 ... (truncated, view full listing at source)