- Strong command of observability fundamentals - MELT, including correlation, sampling, and high-cardinality control.
- Hands-on expertise with OpenTelemetry across instrumentation, collectors, and context propagation.
- Strong architectural intuition for large-scale distributed systems and microservices failure modes.
- Deep practical understanding of cloud-native and Kubernetes observability.
- Working knowledge of APM internals and runtime instrumentation (Java, .NET, Node.js, Python).
- Experience architecting high-throughput telemetry ingestion, storage, and query pipelines.
- Strong grasp of observability data models and query pattern based analytics.
- Applied use of AI/ML in observability for baselining, anomaly detection, and alert noise reduction.
- Advanced familiarity with Kubernetes networking and service mesh observability.
- Exposure to eBPF or kernel-level telemetry and zero-instrumentation techniques.
- Capability to map technical telemetry to business transactions and user journeys.
- Clear understanding of security, privacy, and multi-tenant data isolation.
- Proven integration experience with CI/CD, incident management, and ITSM ecosystems.
- Strong grasp of performance overhead, telemetry cost controls, and FinOps alignment.
- Experience operating observability platforms at very large scale (multi-region, multi-tenant).
- Prior ownership of production SRE or platform incidents, including postmortems.
- Experience designing observability for regulated or high-compliance domains.
- Involvement in customer migrations from competing observability platforms.
- Ability to influence product roadmap using field and customer insights.
- Experience correlating telemetry with SLIs, SLOs, error budgets, and business KPIs.
- Use of observability data for cost optimization and FinOps initiatives.
- Contributions to open-source observability projects or public technical content.
- Relevant Industry Certification in Otel, Hyperscalers, Data domains.
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.
Skills Required
- Strong command of observability fundamentals, including MELT, correlation, sampling, and high-cardinality control
- Hands-on expertise with OpenTelemetry instrumentation, collectors, and context propagation
- Strong architectural understanding of large-scale distributed systems and microservices failure modes
- Deep practical understanding of cloud-native and Kubernetes observability
- Working knowledge of APM internals and runtime instrumentation for Java, .NET, Node.js, and Python
- Experience architecting high-throughput telemetry ingestion, storage, and query pipelines
- Strong understanding of observability data models and query-pattern-based analytics
- Applied use of AI/ML for baselining, anomaly detection, and alert noise reduction
- Advanced familiarity with Kubernetes networking and service mesh observability
- Exposure to eBPF or kernel-level telemetry and zero-instrumentation techniques
- Ability to map technical telemetry to business transactions and user journeys
- Understanding of security, privacy, and multi-tenant data isolation
- Integration experience with CI/CD, incident management, and ITSM ecosystems
- Understanding of performance overhead, telemetry cost controls, and FinOps alignment
- Experience operating observability platforms at very large scale, including multi-region and multi-tenant environments
- Production SRE or platform incident ownership, including postmortems
- Experience designing observability for regulated or high-compliance domains
- Experience migrating customers from competing observability platforms
- Ability to influence product roadmap using field and customer insights
- Experience correlating telemetry with SLIs, SLOs, error budgets, and business KPIs
- Use of observability data for cost optimization and FinOps initiatives
- Contributions to open-source observability projects or public technical content
- Relevant industry certification in OpenTelemetry, hyperscalers, or data domains
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 robust with multiple plan options and access to onsite/virtual LifeConnections Health Centers on major campuses. Company materials also highlight mental-health resources and comprehensive preventive care, supporting strong core medical benefits.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time away includes company‑wide recharge days, a paid birthday, a year‑end shutdown, and paid Critical Time Off for emergencies. Paid volunteer days further expand opportunities to step away and recharge.
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Parental & Family Support — Policies include a global minimum for paid parental leave for primary caregivers, caregiving concierge services, and on‑site children’s learning centers in select locations. In the U.S., family‑building support is consolidated under Carrot with a defined lifetime maximum, indicating structured assistance across fertility, preservation, adoption, and surrogacy.
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.
