Senior Software Engineer
About The Position
The Cisco Distributed System Engineering (DSE) group is at the forefront of building next-generation networking systems that power the largest and most demanding infrastructures in the world. As the industry evolves to support AI/ML workloads and ever-increasing bandwidth demands, innovations such as Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) are becoming critical to scaling performance, efficiency, and power optimization. The SONiC Optics team is passionate about enabling and productizing optics solutions—including CPO—within Cisco’s network operating systems. We work at the intersection of hardware, optics, and software, integrating innovative optical technologies into SONiC-based platforms. You will join a team of engineers passionate about distributed systems, open-source networking, and next-generation optical architectures. This is a fast-paced environment where you will contribute to product development and help bring CPO-based solutions to production.
Requirements
- Bachelors + 7 years of related experience OR Masters + 4 years of related experience OR PhD + 1 year of related experience.
- 5 years of experience in software development
- Minimum 3 years of experience with Linux-based systems and system-level programming (C/C++/Python)
- 3+ years of experience with debugging tools and development in distributed or embedded systems environments
Nice To Haves
- Experience with networking protocols (L2/L3, switching, routing)
- Exposure to network operating systems such as SONiC or similar platforms
- Understanding of optics technologies (e.g., QSFP, OSFP, or CPO concepts)
- Experience with hardware-software interfaces (drivers, SDKs, or platform abstraction layers)
- Familiarity with containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Knowledge of telemetry, monitoring systems, or data plane/control plane interactions
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing
Responsibilities
- Develop and improve software modules within SONiC to support optical subsystems, including pluggable optics and Co-Packaged Optics (CPO).
- Contribute to platform adaptation layers that interface SONiC with hardware components such as ASICs, optical engines, and BMCs.
- Implement and maintain drivers, APIs, and services for optics monitoring, configuration, and lifecycle management.
- Participate in debugging and resolving system-level issues across software and hardware boundaries.
- Support integration of CPO technologies into SONiC-based platforms, including telemetry, diagnostics, and control-plane interactions.
- Work closely with hardware and optics teams to understand device capabilities and expose them through software interfaces.
- Assist in validating performance, reliability, and thermal/power characteristics of optics solutions.
- Contribute to the design of scalable and maintainable software components for optics management.
- Help implement telemetry and monitoring solutions for optical modules and CPO subsystems.
- Participate in unit testing, system testing, and automation efforts to ensure high-quality work.
- Collaborate with multi-functional teams including hardware, QA, and system integration.
- Engage with the SONiC open-source community, contributing to optics-related features and improvements where applicable.
- Support CI/CD workflows and participate in improving development and test processes.
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
- 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
- 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, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next
- Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
