Software Engineer (Hybrid)

The application window is expected to close on: 05/25/2026

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

This is a hybrid role with three days per week at Cisco's RTP office.

Meet the Team

Cisco is a global leader in networking and IT, dedicated to transforming how people connect, communicate, and collaborate. To provide best-in-class technologies to our customers, we've created an unrivaled company culture for our employees. One that is collaborative, empathetic, and provides employees with the autonomy to develop technology that's intuitive, secure, and simple for everyone to use.

Our Routing SD-WAN Group is at the forefront of innovation, delivering intelligent, secure, and scalable WAN edge solutions that empower enterprises to connect and protect their networks from the edge to the cloud.

Our Routing Platform Software team within Routing SD-WAN builds industry-leading headend SD-WAN and edge routing platforms. We are reinventing the WAN with controller-based, intent-driven networking that delivers secure connectivity to users and devices across cloud, on-prem, and SaaS applications. You will join a high-energy group working on next-generation routing and services at global scale, connecting thousands of devices and millions of users.

Your Impact

We are looking for a software engineer to develop various networking (routing / forwarding) functionalities four our industry leading SD-WAN and routing solution. Some of the key areas of focus will be segmentation, segment routing, multicast, IPv6, quality-of-service, and various general networking concepts. Your work will span controllers and edge network appliances. In this role, you will collaborate with product management, technical marketing, and various cross functional teams that power the Cisco innovation. You will have the opportunity to define new architectures or enhance existing ones to provide solution to our customers. If you are passionate about solving complex system level problems and influencing network behavior at scale, we would love to meet you. You'll leverage modern AI tools to enhance software development practices to help drive greater efficiency, quality, and innovation across the team.

• Network software development: full stack software development for our industry leading networking stack.

• Work with multi-functional teams to plan, design, implement and integrate the solution keeping in mind the scaling and tight performance requirements.

• You will be part of the full stack team (controller and dataplane) and will be enabled to work across domains.

• You will also work with our partner teams such as security, analytics, and NMS to deliver the end-to-end solution for SDWAN and Enterprise routing.

• Use modern AI tools and technologies to achieve highest level of efficiency in product development and solution delivery.

• You will work with key stakeholders to explore areas of innovation and improvement to drive product evolution.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience, 5 years of industry experience with end-to-end software development in networking stack, including control plane, data plane, and controller architecture.

• Technical Expertise: Strong proficiency in C/C++ with a focus on systems programming and Linux environments.

• Have expertise or experience in multicast, IPv6, quality-of-service, segmentation, segment routing, in addition to general networking concepts.

• Networking Knowledge: Solid understanding of routing architectures and Layer 2 networking protocols.

• Past experience working in a controller driven architecture is a plus.

• Problem-Solving: Ability to debug complex system level issues spanning various software domain and boundary.

• Experience with LAN/WAN communication interfaces and Layer 2/Layer 3 technologies.

• Experience with AI/ML techniques and tools for development (e.g., codex, copilot, code assistants, static analysis tools, test automation platforms).

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of Routing protocols, data plane and packet processors, and experience in industry deployed networking stacks , OSPF, BGP, and knowledge in controller driven architecture.

• Network software development for HW and cloud instances.

• Ability to develop and debug solutions that span multiple network instances: controllers, edges, hubs, spokes...

• Experience with network level debugging using wire-shark, packet trace/capture.

• Knowledge of BFD (Bi-directional Forwarding Detection)

We encourage you to drop us a line even if you don't have all the points above. That's a lot of different areas of responsibility! We will help you pick them up because we believe that great engineers come from diverse backgrounds.

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.

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.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada: The starting salary range posted for this position is $126,500.00 to $182,000.00 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.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco's plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco's policies:

• 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, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco

• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees

• Exempt employees participate in Cisco's flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)

• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto the next

• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members

• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco's policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. 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 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$152,500.00 - $252,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$135,800.00 - $224,400.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco's sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

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