Software Engineer

The Cisco SD-WAN dataplane team is at the forefront of innovation, designing and implementing the high-performance, intelligent packet forwarding engine that powers Cisco's industry-leading SD-WAN solutions. We build the core intelligence that directs traffic across diverse networks, ensuring optimal application performance, security, and user experience. Our team thrives on tackling complex engineering challenges, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in network virtualization and software-defined networking. We are a collaborative group of passionate engineers dedicated to delivering robust, scalable, and cutting-edge solutions that shape the future of enterprise networking.

Your Impact

 As a Senior Software Engineer on the SD-WAN dataplane team, you will play a critical role in architecting, developing, and optimizing the high-performance data plane for Cisco's SD-WAN platform. You will be responsible for designing and implementing new dataplane features, enhancing existing ones, and ensuring the scalability, reliability, and efficiency of our solutions. You will leverage AI-assisted coding tools—such as GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, and similar generative AI assistants—to accelerate development cycles, enhance code quality, and automate routine engineering tasks. Your contributions will directly impact how millions of users and businesses connect and operate globally. You'll have the opportunity to influence the technical direction of our product, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver exceptional networking experiences. As we integrate AI and ML capabilities, you will be instrumental in developing intelligent packet processing mechanisms that adapt to real-time network conditions and predict potential issues.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of professional software development experience, with a strong focus on systems programming and networking protocols.
• Proficiency in C/C++/Python and a strong understanding of data structures, algorithms, and object-oriented design.
• Experience with network data plane development, including concepts like packet processing, QoS, routing protocols (e.g., BGP, OSPF), and tunneling technologies (e.g., IPsec, GRE).
• Demonstrated ability to debug complex system-level issues and optimize performance in high-throughput environments.
• Proven experience implementing and optimizing critical data plane security and resiliency features, including NAT/PAT, High Availability (HA) failover mechanisms, and stateful service processing.
• Proficiency in using AI-assisted coding tools, such as GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, or similar platforms, to improve developer productivity, streamline code reviews, and maintain high standards of code maintainability.
• Experience with concurrent programming, multi-threading, and performance tuning in large-scale distributed systems.

• Experience with SD-WAN technologies and architectures (e.g., Cisco SD-WAN/Viptela, overlay/underlay networking).
• Familiarity with Linux kernel development, DPDK, or other high-performance packet processing frameworks.
• Experience with network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) principles.
• Exposure to AI/ML concepts and their application in network optimization, anomaly detection, or predictive analytics.

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.