Meet the Team
Cisco Networking builds industry-leading switching, routing, wireless, and cloud-managed networking solutions used by customers worldwide. We are looking for a hands-on senior firmware engineer with strong systems programming and networking expertise to help develop the next generation of high-performance switching software.
Join the Network Connectivity team, where you will design and develop production-grade firmware and system software for enterprise switching platforms. As a Senior Software Engineer, you will independently own significant features, contribute to technical design and architecture decisions, and work closely with networking, platform, quality, and product teams.
Your Impact
In this role, your work will directly enhance the connectivity, reliability, and configuration of L2/L3 protocols on Cisco switching platforms. You will own medium-to-large features from design through delivery, troubleshoot complex device and customer issues, and help raise the engineering bar through strong technical judgment and mentorship.
Responsibilities
Design, develop, and own networking components that are simple, scalable, reliable, and supportable. Develop firmware and system software for Cisco switching products.
Analyze requirements and problem statements, evaluate technical trade-offs, and produce clear software designs, detailed design documents, and functional specifications.
Write high-quality C/C++ code and unit tests. Apply strong white-box testing and automation practices. Triage, debug, and root-cause software bring-up issues, regressions, crashes, performance problems, and customer failures.
Work with local and remote teams to review product requirements, software functional/design specifications, unit and integration test plans, and validation strategy. Partner closely with system test and quality teams to ensure feature readiness.
Contribute innovative ideas that improve product architecture, debuggability, performance, reliability, and engineering productivity, including opportunities to create intellectual property.
Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, EE/ECE, or a related field, with typically 8-12 years of relevant software/firmware development experience.
Strong hands-on proficiency in C/C++ with solid data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, memory management, and debugging skills.
Hands-on experience developing firmware, embedded software, or system software for networking products.
Strong system design skills with the ability to design and independently own feature- or component-level architecture.
Strong experience with concurrent programming, multithreading, synchronization, and IPC/RPC mechanisms.
Strong L2/L3 networking knowledge, including Ethernet, VLANs, STP/RSTP, LACP/LAG, ARP, IPv4/IPv6, routing fundamentals, packet flow, and network troubleshooting.
Strong Linux/system programming fundamentals and hands-on debugging experience using tools such as GDB, core dumps, packet captures, Wireshark/tcpdump, and traffic generators/analyzers such as IXIA or equivalent.
Demonstrated ownership of medium-to-large technical features, including design, implementation, testing, rollout, and production/customer support. Ability to mentor engineers and contribute effectively to design and code reviews.
Hands-on experience using GenAI-assisted development tools such as Codex, GitHub Copilot, Claude, or equivalent to improve engineering productivity while maintaining code quality and security.
Preferred Qualifications:
Hands-on development and debugging experience with networking protocols and switching features such as VLAN, STP/RSTP/MST, LACP/LAG, UDLD, Storm Control, QoS, OSPF, BGP, ECMP, multicast, DHCP relay, SLAAC, or VRRP.
Experience with Python or another scripting language for test automation, debugging, tooling, or developer productivity.
Experience with hardware/software bring-up, SDK/ASIC interaction, packet processing, or high-performance data-plane software is a plus. Cisco networking certifications such as CCNA, CCNP, or CCIE are desirable.
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, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
- Typically 8-12 years of relevant software or firmware development experience
- Strong hands-on proficiency in C/C++, including data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, memory management, and debugging
- Experience developing firmware, embedded software, or system software for networking products
- Strong system design skills and ability to independently own feature- or component-level architecture
- Experience with concurrent programming, multithreading, synchronization, and IPC/RPC mechanisms
- Strong L2/L3 networking knowledge, including Ethernet, VLANs, STP/RSTP, LACP/LAG, ARP, IPv4/IPv6, routing fundamentals, packet flow, and network troubleshooting
- Linux and system programming fundamentals with hands-on debugging using GDB, core dumps, packet captures, Wireshark/tcpdump, and traffic generators or analyzers such as IXIA
- Experience owning medium-to-large technical features through design, implementation, testing, rollout, and production or customer support
- Ability to mentor engineers and contribute to design and code reviews
- Hands-on experience using GenAI-assisted development tools such as Codex, GitHub Copilot, Claude, or equivalent
- Development and debugging experience with networking protocols and switching features such as MST, UDLD, Storm Control, QoS, OSPF, BGP, ECMP, multicast, DHCP relay, SLAAC, or VRRP
- Experience with Python or another scripting language for test automation, debugging, tooling, or developer productivity
- Experience with hardware/software bring-up, SDK/ASIC interaction, packet processing, or high-performance data-plane software
- Cisco networking certification such as CCNA, CCNP, or CCIE
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.
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