Meet the team:
The AI Agent platform team builds the cloud platform for AI agents that hold natural voice and chat conversations and take actions in business systems through APIs. We build and run the real-time services underneath: low-latency streaming services that hold a live, two-way session with each user, stream audio and messages between services, and integrate with external systems, at enterprise scale across multiple regions.
As a Cloud Engineer, you will build, test, ship and operate these services, primarily in Java and Python. You will own features end to end, starting from a written spec, through implementation and automated tests, to deployment and production support, and you will use AI coding tools as a normal part of how you work.
Your Impact
- Build and extend real-time backend services for the AI Agent platform in Java (Java 21, Quarkus) and Python, for both voice and chat conversations.
- Implement platform features such as long-lived streaming sessions over gRPC and WebSockets, event pipelines on Kafka, session state in Redis and durable data in PostgreSQL, and integrations with customer and partner systems through REST APIs and webhooks.
- Follow spec-driven development: before implementing a feature or any non-trivial change, write a proper spec (scope, API/Protobuf contract changes, data and state model, failure handling and test plan), get it reviewed, then build and test against it.
- Use AI coding tools (such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, ChatGPT or Codex) for implementation, tests, debugging and documentation, while owning the correctness, security and quality of everything you merge.
- Write code that holds up in real time: correct timeouts, retries, cancellation and backpressure on streaming paths, bounded per-session resources, and measurable gains in end-to-end latency.
- Write unit, integration and functional tests, and extend the team’s load and chaos test suites and release gates.
- Ship through Docker, Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines, and instrument every new code path with metrics, traces and dashboards (OpenTelemetry, Grafana).
- Support what you build in production: triage issues across the service, data, network and integration layers, find the root cause and land a lasting fix.
- Work closely with product management, UX, SRE, security and the product teams that use the platform.
Minimum Qualifications (Must Have)
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience, with 1-3 years of professional backend software development.
- Strong hands-on Java (Java 17 or later): you have built and shipped production microservices and REST APIs with Quarkus, Spring Boot or a similar framework.
- Strong hands-on Python: you write production-quality Python for services, tooling or test automation.
- Hands-on experience deploying and running services with Docker and Kubernetes on a public cloud (AWS, Azure or Google Cloud).
- Spec-driven development: you write a proper spec before implementing a non-trivial change (scope, API contract, data model, edge cases, test plan) and then build and test against it.
- AI-assisted development: you use AI coding tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, ChatGPT or Codex in your daily work, and you review, test and correct what they generate.
Preferred Qualifications (Good to Have)
- Quarkus, and modern Java 21 features such as records, pattern matching and virtual threads.
- gRPC and Protocol Buffers, WebSockets, or other streaming APIs.
- Kafka, Redis, PostgreSQL or MongoDB.
- AWS services such as EKS, S3 and RDS, and delivery tooling such as Helm, Terraform, Argo CD, Jenkins or GitHub Actions.
- Observability with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Jaeger or Splunk.
- Resilience patterns such as circuit breakers, bulkheads and idempotent retries (for example SmallRye Fault Tolerance or Resilience4j).
- Real-time communications: WebRTC, SIP or audio and media streaming.
- Load and chaos testing with k6, Locust, Gatling or JMeter.
- Application and API security: OWASP Top 10, OAuth 2.0 and JWT, secrets management and tenant isolation.
- TypeScript, React or Next.js for internal tools and test clients.
- Experience building shared platforms or APIs used by other product teams.
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.
Disclaimer
To ensure that we hire the best talent in the right way, we follow a strict hiring process and recently, Cisco has been made aware of fraudulent recruiters claiming to be from the company. Please be advised that any communication from Cisco about careers will:
- be in direct response to an application you have submitted through the company career site
- begin with screening or an interview
- originate from a Cisco email address, and
- be conducted across email, phone, or WebEx
Cisco will never make a job offer without conducting an interview process or ask you for money in any way. If you have been requested to apply for a role or have received an offer from a site other than https://careers.cisco.com or cisco.wd5.myworkday.com, do not provide any personal identifying information, including your Aadhaar or other personal identifying number, birth certificate, banking information, driver's license, or passport.
If you are the target of a recruiting scam, consider filing a report with your local law enforcement authorities. Cisco bears no responsibility, and cannot be held liable, for any claims, damages, expenses, or other inconvenience resulting from or in any way connected to recruiting scams.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
- 1-3 years of professional backend software development experience
- Strong hands-on Java 17 or later experience building and shipping production microservices and REST APIs with Quarkus, Spring Boot, or a similar framework
- Strong hands-on Python experience writing production-quality services, tooling, or test automation
- Experience deploying and running services with Docker and Kubernetes on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud
- Experience with spec-driven development for non-trivial changes
- Daily use of AI coding tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, ChatGPT, or Codex, with responsibility for reviewing and testing generated code
- Experience with Quarkus and modern Java 21 features
- Experience with gRPC, Protocol Buffers, WebSockets, or other streaming APIs
- Experience with Kafka, Redis, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB
- Experience with AWS EKS, S3, RDS, Helm, Terraform, Argo CD, Jenkins, or GitHub Actions
- Experience with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Jaeger, or Splunk
- Experience with resilience patterns such as circuit breakers, bulkheads, and idempotent retries
- Experience with WebRTC, SIP, or audio and media streaming
- Experience with load and chaos testing tools such as k6, Locust, Gatling, or JMeter
- Knowledge of OWASP Top 10, OAuth 2.0, JWT, secrets management, and tenant isolation
- Experience with TypeScript, React, or Next.js
- Experience building shared platforms or APIs used by other product teams
Cisco Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Cisco and has not been reviewed or approved by Cisco.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as broad, with medical options including PPOs, high-deductible plans, and regional HMOs. Feedback suggests robust wellness and mental-health resources, with some locations offering on-site support and second medical opinions.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is highlighted through paid holidays, paid time off, and additional recharge days such as “Days for Me,” with generous volunteer time also mentioned. Feedback suggests these programs help support rest, volunteering, and critical life events.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental and family support appears extensive, including paid child-bonding leave, family medical leave, and caregiving resources. Observations also point to family-planning assistance and adoption or surrogacy support in some regions.
Cisco Insights
What We Do
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) enables people to make powerful connections--whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create the Internet solutions that make networks possible--providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time. Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies. Today, with more than 71,000 employees worldwide, this tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products and solutions in the company's core development areas of routing and switching, as well as in advanced technologies such as home networking, IP telephony, optical networking, security, storage area networking, and wireless technology. In addition to its products, Cisco provides a broad range of service offerings, including technical support and advanced services. Cisco sells its products and services, both directly through its own sales force as well as through its channel partners, to large enterprises, commercial businesses, service providers, and consumers.
