Senior Software Engineer (Identity Engineering - SSO)

Cisco • Austin, TX

23h • Remote

About The Position

The application window is expected to close on: 11/23/2026. Preferred candidates will be based in Ann Arbor, MI or Austin, TX. Remote candidates will be considered. Meet the Team: Cisco’s Identity Engineering organization is building a unified foundation for connecting, managing, and securing identity across Cisco products and diverse enterprise identity systems. The platform will support identity lifecycle management and consistent security enforcement for workforce users, service identities, and emerging AI agents. You will join the squad responsible for the platform’s core SSO and identity-brokering capabilities. The team works on authentication, federation, and identity orchestration across heterogeneous systems, solving complex distributed-systems and cross-product integration challenges. Your Impact: In this role, you will help build the authentication and federation foundation of Cisco’s identity platform.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with 7+ years of related experience, master’s degree with 4+ years of related experience, or PhD with 1+ years of related experience.
• Professional experience building enterprise or customer-facing backend services and APIs using Python.
• Experience designing components within distributed systems and communicating technical decisions and tradeoffs.
• Experience delivering quality software through automated testing and modern software development practices.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools as part of day-to-day software engineering while validating the security, correctness, and maintainability of the resulting work.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with spec-driven development practices.
• Experience building REST APIs using OpenAPI specifications and related code-generation workflows.
• Knowledge of identity and federation protocols such as SAML, OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, SCIM, or WS-Federation.
• Experience with AWS, SQL, Redis, asynchronous Python, or event-driven architectures.
• Experience with React and TypeScript.
• Experience writing technical specifications, design documents, or Architecture Decision Records.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop secure, scalable SSO and identity-broker services using Python.
• Build APIs and platform capabilities that support authentication, federation, identity orchestration, and integration across Cisco products.
• Own complex software components from design through implementation, testing, and delivery.
• Evaluate tradeoffs involving security, scalability, performance, and extensibility, and document significant decisions through technical designs and Architecture Decision Records.
• Turn ambiguous requirements into clear technical specifications, acceptance criteria, and incremental implementation plans.
• Use AI-assisted development tools throughout the software development lifecycle while independently validating the security, correctness, and maintainability of the resulting software.
• Deliver high-quality software through automated testing, code reviews, and sound development practices.
• Collaborate with engineering, product, and architecture partners to solve cross-product integration challenges and strengthen engineering practices across the squad.

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
• 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
• 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: Senior