Principal Software Engineer

Cisco • Milpitas, MI

4d • Onsite

About The Position

The application window is expected to close on: 11/29/2026 This is an onsite role in Milpitas, CA Meet the Team Cisco Secure Access is cloud-delivered security service edge (SSE) solution, grounded in zero trust, gives users an exceptional user experience and protected access from any device too anywhere. Cisco Secure Access enforces security policies such as access control, threat protection and data security using ZTNA, SWG, DNS, CASB and FWaaS. As a team member, you'll play a crucial role in enhancing seamless and secure access to applications and resources, and protecting organizations from diverse cyber threats. Join the Cisco Secure Access team, where innovation meets cutting-edge technology in a dynamic and collaborative environment. Your Impact You will serve as a Principal Software Engineer within Cisco's cloud security business group, collaborating across multiple fast-paced teams to design, develop, and deliver scalable, supportable, and maintainable production-quality applications! Your responsibilities include building new capabilities to the products as well as and improving existing processes and architecture, developing, partnering with internal and external teams to understand business and technical requirements and documenting technical specifications for development. You will oversee architecture, design, code quality, and deployments, while also documenting and communicating technical solutions to architecture groups and leadership. Additionally, you will participate in design and code reviews, mentor junior developers, evaluate new technology stacks and third-party tools through proof of concepts and benchmarks, and troubleshoot sophisticated system-level stability and scalability issues.

Requirements

• A Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering or Computer Science with a minimum of 17+ years of relevant industry experience, or a Master’s degree and 10 years of relevant industry experience owning architecture and technical strategy across multiple teams, from problem definition and system design through rollout, adoption, and operational support.
• 7+ years of experience in a technical leadership role and architecture.
• 10+ years experience in development in AWS cloud or similar and proficiency in Python, Go or Java.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, cloud-native architecture, APIs, micro-services architecture, data platforms, multi-tenant services, and production operations.
• Experience building agentic systems and leveraging AI to improve productivity across the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
• Excellent debugging skills, ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex system level stability or scalability issues.
• A track record of setting engineering standards, resolving cross-organization architectural tension, mentoring principal-level talent, and communicating complex ideas to mixed audiences.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with SSE/SASE, zero-trust architecture, identity-aware access, authorization, secure web access, data protection, DNS security, browser isolation, or digital experience monitoring.
• Experience with LLM applications, retrieval-augmented generation, agent orchestration, tool calling, prompt and context management, model evaluation, LLMOps, AI safety, guardrails, and responsible AI.
• Experience with streaming data, feature engineering, anomaly detection, behavioral or graph analytics, model drift, explain-ability, feedback loops, and investigation or analyst workflows.
• Experience with data pipelines handling large volumes and sound knowledge in technologies such as Kafka, Kubernetes, NoSQL.
• Experience with modern frontend frameworks, TypeScript, component or design systems, web performance, accessibility, browser security, API design, and backend-for-frontend architecture.
• Ability to work independently, research current and emerging technologies, propose changes as needed to cater to changing business / technical conditions.
• Ability to optimally lead teams and inspire others to achieve goals through innovation, quality and excellence.

Responsibilities

• Building new capabilities to the products
• Improving existing processes and architecture
• Developing, partnering with internal and external teams to understand business and technical requirements
• Documenting technical specifications for development
• Overseeing architecture, design, code quality, and deployments
• Documenting and communicating technical solutions to architecture groups and leadership
• Participating in design and code reviews
• Mentoring junior developers
• Evaluating new technology stacks and third-party tools through proof of concepts and benchmarks
• Troubleshooting sophisticated system-level stability and scalability issues

Benefits

• medical, dental and vision insurance
• a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution
• paid parental leave
• short and long-term disability coverage
• basic life insurance
• grants of Cisco restricted stock units
• 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
• 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco
• 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees (non-exempt)
• flexible vacation time off program (exempt)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter
• up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to 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
• annual bonuses
• performance-based incentive pay

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal