Cisco

Software Engineering Technical Leader

Cisco • $214K — $309K *
US-AnywhereRemote in San Jose, CA
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Today
Be an Early Applicant
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree + 12 years of related experience, or Master's degree + 8 years, or PhD + 5 years.
  • 5+ years production experience with major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) focusing on cloud security posture.
  • 3+ years in production automation using Python or Go for security applications.
  • 5+ years applying SRE practices including defining SLIs/SLOs and incident management.
  • 5+ years in security fundamentals like threat modeling and vulnerability management.

Responsibilities

  • Design and build secure infrastructure and developer platforms with embedded security controls.
  • Harden Kubernetes control planes, GitOps, CI/CD pipelines, and observability tools.
  • Drive Zero Trust principles at scale, ensuring continuous verification and micro-segmentation.
  • Own reliability and security for services like secrets management and IAM governance.
  • Lead incident response efforts and blameless post-mortems for reliability and security failures.
  • Automate security and compliance processes to reduce manual toil and remediation time.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work environment in San Jose.
  • Opportunity to shape technical direction in security and infrastructure.
  • Work within a small, senior team with deep technical ownership.
Full Job Description
The application window is expected to close on: 08/13/2026
Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

***We are looking for candidate local to San Jose as this is a hybrid role***
Meet the Team

The Site Reliability Engineering - Security team makes Cisco CX Engineering's software systems secure, resilient, and fast to build on. We own the security posture of production infrastructure and of the internal platforms engineers depend on every day - Kubernetes control planes, GitOps and CI/CD pipelines, observability stacks, and AI/ML operations. We sit at the intersection of Platform, Security, Compliance, and Operations, so our work shapes how hundreds of engineers ship software. We are a small, senior, high-autonomy team that values deep technical ownership, blameless learning, and automating our way out of toil. Our largest and newest platform is Cisco IQ, the AI-powered front door to all of Cisco's Customer Experience services, so the systems you secure carry customer inventory, vulnerability detection, and support data at Cisco scale.
Your Impact

As a Software Engineer on the Site Reliability Engineering - Security team, you set the technical direction for how Cisco CX Engineering builds and operates secure infrastructure and developer platforms. You will design systems that are secure by default, drive Zero Trust adoption across infrastructure and internal tooling, and embed security signals into SRE observability and incident response so threats surface as quickly as outages do. You will advise engineering leadership and negotiate the trade-offs between security, velocity, and reliability on decisions that affect the entire organization. Success looks like measurably reduced attack surface, faster vulnerability remediation, and platforms that engineers can use safely by default without slowing down. This is a role for someone who wants their architectural decisions to outlive any single project.
  • Design and build secure, scalable infrastructure and developer platforms so that security controls are embedded by default rather than bolted on later.
  • Harden the platforms themselves - Kubernetes control planes, GitOps systems, CI/CD pipelines, and observability stacks - treating internal tooling as the high-value target it is.
  • Drive Zero Trust at scale through workload identity, continuous verification, and micro-segmentation so access is earned rather than assumed.
  • Own the reliability and security posture of critical services including secrets management, PKI, and IAM governance to keep the foundations of the environment trustworthy.
  • Lead cross-team incident response and blameless post-mortems that convert both reliability and security failures into permanent fixes.
  • Automate security and compliance through policy-as-code and automated evidence collection to reduce toil and shorten remediation time.
Minimum Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's degree + 12 years of related experience, or Master's degree + 8 years of related experience, or PhD + 5 years of related experience.
  • 5+ years of hands-on production experience operating and scaling at least one major cloud (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including direct ownership of cloud security posture: advanced IAM, KMS/secrets management, network controls, and CSPM or equivalent tooling.
  • 3+ years building production automation and tooling in Python and/or Go applied to security use cases such as vulnerability management, secrets orchestration, compliance evidence collection, or detection integration.
  • 5+ years applying SRE practices in production, including defining SLIs/SLOs, managing error budgets, serving as incident commander, and running post-mortems that drive follow-up engineering work.
  • 5+ years applying security fundamentals in production environments: threat modeling, secure-by-default architecture, least-privilege and workload identity, secrets and certificate lifecycle management, and vulnerability management at scale.
Preferred Qualifications:
  • Hands-on production Kubernetes security experience: RBAC at scale, Network Policies, Pod Security Standards, admission controllers, image signing and verification, control-plane hardening, and service mesh mTLS.
  • Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform) with policy-as-code (OPA, Kyverno, Checkov, tfsec), GitOps delivery (ArgoCD or Flux), and CI/CD security gates including SAST, SCA, image and secret scanning, SBOM generation, and artifact signing.
  • Deep experience with security observability and runtime detection tooling (Falco, eBPF-based detection, SIEM, CSPM/CNAPP platforms) integrated with Prometheus, Grafana, or OpenTelemetry.
  • Experience securing AI/ML workloads and MLOps pipelines, including training and inference pipeline security and model security, and applying AI/LLM capabilities to security automation with human-in-the-loop guardrails.
  • Security certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, or AWS Certified Security - Specialty, paired with strong communication and influence skills and a track record of driving security and architectural decisions across organizational levels.

About Cisco

Cisco Careers

Join the vibrant team at Cisco, a global leader in networking and cybersecurity solutions, where innovation and leadership thrive. Cisco offers a plethora of job opportunities that cater to a range of skills and experiences, making it an ideal place for both seasoned professionals and those seeking an internship to jumpstart their career. Work You’ll Do At Cisco, you’ll be part of a culture that values diversity, leadership, and professional growth. Engage in work that matters with a team that combines technology, creativity, and the power of human connection to redefine networking. Cisco’s commitment to innovation isn’t just about technology, but also about transforming the way we work and collaborate. Cisco’s employment philosophy supports career advancement and nurtures a leadership pipeline that is equipped with diversity training and opportunities for growth. Whether you’re applying your skills to drive our latest innovations or using our vast networking capabilities to solve complex problems, at Cisco, every role is impactful. Join Our Dynamic Team Explore job opportunities in areas ranging from engineering to marketing, sales to cybersecurity. Cisco is hiring individuals who are passionate, curious, and ready to drive change. Positions at Cisco offer competitive benefits, a supportive culture, and the chance to work with cutting-edge technology. Internship Programs Kickstart your career with a Cisco internship. Gain invaluable industry experience, enhance your resume, and build professional networks that last a lifetime. Our internships provide hands-on experience and the chance to work on projects that matter. Leadership and Development Cisco is committed to fostering leadership skills and providing employees with the training needed to succeed. Our leadership programs help you develop new skills, manage teams effectively, and lead with confidence. Cisco’s commitment to professional development ensures that your career path is as dynamic as our technologies. Benefits and Culture Cisco understands the importance of a balanced life. Our benefits package is designed to ensure that our team members are healthy, happy, and secure. At Cisco, you’ll find a supportive culture that encourages open communication, teamwork, and mutual respect. Stay Connected Join Cisco’s Talent Network Stay informed about new positions that match your skills and interests. At Cisco, we value the curiosity and unique perspectives of our team members. Subscribe to receive personalized job alerts and insider tips directly from our hiring managers. Explore Cisco Jobs Ready to advance your career at Cisco? Search open positions, prepare your resume, and get ready for an interview that could lead to your next big opportunity. At Cisco, we’re not just filling positions—we’re investing in leaders. Keep Up to Date Stay ahead with career tips, insider perspectives, and industry-leading insights you can put to use today—all from the people who work here. READ CAREERS BLOG Job Alert Emails Customize your subscription to receive job alerts, the latest news, and insider tips tailored to your preferences. Discover the exciting and rewarding career opportunities that await you at Cisco.
Learn more about Cisco
Size
79,500 employees
Market Cap
$194.5 billion
Industry
Telecommunications & Hardware
Net Income
$10.1 billion
Founded
2014
5 Year Trend
+1.4%
Revenue
$48 billion
NASDAQ
CSCO
* Ladders Estimates

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