Software Engineering Technical Leader - SRE

Cisco•Chicago, IL

3d•$177,600 - $257,400

About The Position

As a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Technical Leader on the Intersight Team, you will help ensure the reliability, scalability, and security of Cisco’s cloud platforms. You will represent the Intersight SRE team and provide technical leadership in defining and delivering its technical roadmap. Working with software development, product management, customers, and security teams, you will design, influence, build, and maintain SaaS systems operating at multi-region scale. The role focuses on strengthening platform infrastructure and supporting operational excellence for a rapidly growing next-generation project. You will guide a high-performing team dedicated to reliable and scalable cloud services, collaborating across product engineering, service engineering, and SRE teams. The position combines hands-on SRE or systems and network administration expertise with architectural leadership, customer engagement, mentoring, programming, automation, and strategic planning for enterprise-scale infrastructure.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and 12 years of related experience, or a master’s degree and 8 years of related experience, or a Ph.D. and 5 years of related experience.
Experience designing and implementing scalable, reliable, production-ready solutions.
Experience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS, and Infrastructure as Code using Terraform or Ansible.
Experience with Linux, Docker, Kubernetes/EKS, networking, security, and CI/CD.
Experience with observability and monitoring tools.
Proficiency in Python, Go, or similar programming languages, with a strong understanding of software development principles.

Nice To Haves

Experience building or managing a cloud-based data platform, automating and orchestrating infrastructure, and maintaining high availability and system reliability at scale.
Ability to manage multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Experience architecting software and infrastructure at scale, with ownership and accountability.
Interest in learning, researching, and developing innovative technologies that deliver customer impact.
Strong communication and presentation skills, including explaining complex technical concepts to non-experts and fostering collaboration across diverse technical teams.
Experience providing technical leadership and mentoring engineers.
Experience with cloud and infrastructure security.
CKA, CKAD, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, or equivalent certifications in cloud and security domains.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and optimize cloud and data infrastructure for high availability, reliability, and scalability, implementing SRE practices such as monitoring, alerting, error budgets, and fault analysis.
Collaborate with customers and development, product management, and security teams to create secure, scalable solutions and improve operational efficiency through automation.
Troubleshoot complex production issues, conduct root cause analyses, participate in postmortem reviews, and proactively optimize performance.
Lead architectural vision and shape the team’s technical strategy and roadmap, balancing immediate needs with long-term goals and influencing technical direction.
Mentor and guide teams, sharing technical expertise and fostering engineering and operational excellence.
Engage customers and stakeholders to understand use cases and feedback, translate them into actionable insights, and influence stakeholders at all levels.
Use programming skills to integrate software and systems engineering, building core data platform capabilities and automation for enterprise customer needs and roadmap objectives.
Develop strategic roadmaps, processes, plans, and infrastructure to deploy software components efficiently at enterprise scale while enforcing engineering standards.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability coverage
Basic life insurance
Cisco restricted stock unit grants may be available, subject to eligibility and continued employment
10 paid holidays per full calendar year
Floating holiday for non-exempt employees
Paid day off for employee’s birthday
Paid year-end holiday shutdown
Four paid personal wellness days
Paid vacation time for non-exempt employees; exempt employees participate in a flexible vacation time-off program
80 hours of sick time off provided on hire and each January 1, with up to 80 unused hours carried forward
Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues
Optional 10 paid volunteer days per full calendar year
Annual bonuses may be available for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco policies