The application window is expected to close on: 07/27/2026
Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Participates in the secure design, build, and testing of software products through the use of systematic tests. Contributes to the design and build of test frameworks and utilities needed to make the automation easier. Develops, modifies, and executes software design plans, automated scripts, and programs for quality assurance. Plays an integral part in CI/CD, facilitates defining quality gates, and ensures quality at every stage in CI/CD. Works closely with product managers and development teams in giving feedback on software requirements, planning the design execution, and resolving problems. Analyzes and writes quality standards and procedures. Analyzes test results to ensure existing functionality and recommends corrective action. Provides risk assessment of product functionality.

What You'll Do:
• Uses specialized expertise in one or more areas to interpret internal or external business issues and recommends best practices
• Solves complex problems and takes a broad perspective to identify innovative solutions
• Establishes and maintains ongoing and collaborative cross-functional relationships to gather insights, align on business needs, and deliver value
• Anticipates performance, security, and scale issues, and advocates for changes to architectural design
• Oversees design and delivery of testing automation for large-scale projects that drive security and reliability across the business
• Performs risk assessments on testing decisions and identifies ways to mitigate risk across different products
• Defines best practices for test implementation and strategy
• Leverages in-depth knowledge of multiple domains to achieve desired outcomes
• Writes functional clean code and unit tests at a level that sets the standard for coding across teams
• Influences architectural decisions with a focus on security, scalability, and reliability
• Contributes to threat modeling of a product
• Designs and innovates software quality assurance strategy and best practices across various levels and environments through communication with development teams and external stakeholders, leveraging software testing insights
• Defines testing plans based on best practices (e.g., shifting left) to ensure early quality implementation
• Utilizes risk assessments to formulate testing priorities and strategy
• Understands impact on integrations, deployment, delivery pipeline, etc.
• Ensures the introduction and implementation of the latest automated and exploratory testing practices within QA Engineering discipline
• Coordinates quality execution across multiple groups, platforms, and/or environments for major products
• Creates forums and drives processes with developers, product managers, and other teams to ensure resolution of issues/findings
• Drives and implements new quality engineering tools, best practices, and automated frameworks within wider organization
• Proactively identifies opportunities to address design flaws and advocates for the adoption of innovative solutions
• Identifies and advocates for advances in metrics used to monitor and improve the overall quality effort
• Develops and ensures standards for test result and customer-facing documentation
• Presents testing insights to executive leaders and key external stakeholders
• Serves as an expert on identifying the appropriate metrics and interpreting data from dashboard metrics
• Mentors peers or others on the team
• Facilitates/encourages knowledge sharing in the team (e.g., brownbags, demos, design sessions, etc.)

Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelors + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years of related experience, or PhD + 3 years of related experience
• Requires in-depth conceptual and practical knowledge in primary technical job family and knowledge of related technical job families; has worked extensively with a range of technologies

Preferred Qualifications
Varies based on the team and business needs | Preferred Qualifications are desired education, experience, and skills that are in addition to Minimum Qualifications.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $146,700.00 to $214,800.00 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.

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 of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to 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:
$183,800.00 - $303,100.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$163,600.00 - $269,800.00

* 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.