Director, Software Engineering

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

• Define the product roadmap in collaboration with Product Marketing and executive leadership.
• Partner with Hyperscalers and Service Providers to deeply understand their network requirements, ensuring Cisco 8000 and Silicon One-based solutions exceed expectations.
• Build a robust pipeline of talent, mentor senior leaders, and drive the professional development of a diverse, geographically distributed community of engineers.
• Craft a compelling technology story for Cisco, leveraging your deep expertise in networking protocols, packet forwarding, and system-level architecture to deliver unprecedented value.
• Implement and refine agile development processes to minimize overhead and accelerate feature velocity. You will leverage your experience in streamlining cross-functional workflows to reduce time-to-market for complex networking features.
• Lead the cultural and technical shift toward AI-assisted development. You will champion the adoption of internal AI tools for automated bug triaging, code refactoring, and unit-test generation to improve code quality and developer productivity.
• Act as a force multiplier by building, mentoring, and retaining top-tier engineering talent. You will be responsible for the professional growth of your direct reports, conducting effective talent reviews, and creating clear promotion paths.
• Leverage deep technical expertise in Silicon One ASICs and the Cisco 8000 series to drive the architecture of high-availability routing systems, unlocking new market segments and driving multi-billion-dollar revenue growth.
• Foster a collaborative environment between Software, ASIC, Hardware, and Platform teams. You will ensure that quality assurance and testing are integrated early in the development lifecycle, utilizing virtual platforms to complete validation before physical prototypes are available.

• 15+ years of industry experience in networking systems and infrastructure or similar, with a proven track record of managing successful product lines.
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a technical equivalent industry work experience.
• 8+ years of experience in people management, including leading geographically distributed teams and managing senior leaders.
• Expert-level knowledge of software engineering principles, system architecture, and networking technologies or similar (e.g., TCP/IP, QoS, Routing, Packet Forwarding).
• Demonstrated ability to drive complex projects from concept to deployment in a high-availability, real-time embedded environment.

• Understanding with Silicon One ASICs, Cisco 8000 series routers, and IOS-XR operating systems.
• Proven experience in implementing AI/ML tools to accelerate software development, bug triaging, and unit testing.
• Experience in talent reviews, organizational restructuring, and scaling teams to meet aggressive business targets.
• Demonstrated success in working with cross-functional teams (ASIC, Hardware, Platform, and QA) to ensure seamless product delivery.
• Experience representing the engineering organization in technical discussions with top-tier cloud and service provider customers.

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.

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 ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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:

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

* 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.