Software Engineering Technical Leader - Wireless

Cisco•San Francisco, CA

11d

About The Position

Cisco Meraki's Wireless team develops and maintains the world's leading cloud-managed WLAN Access Point ecosystem, serving millions of active devices across the globe. Our mission is to simplify technology so customers can focus on what matters most—their students, patients, customers, and businesses. The MR firmware team is a collaborative group of highly experienced software engineers with diverse technical backgrounds, working on everything from leading-edge wireless protocols to architectural innovations and customer-impacting optimizations. We're passionate about delivering wireless solutions that simply work, and we're excited to tackle the next generation of performance and capability challenges in 802.11 standards and beyond.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field with 8+ years of total software engineering experience or Master's with 6+ years of total software engineering experience
6+ years of professional software engineering experience in production environments using C or C++ programming
Prior experience with Wi-Fi drivers and firmware, including direct collaboration with Wi-Fi vendors to triage, open, and resolve technical issues
Experience working in Linux and/or embedded systems environments with knowledge of TCP/IP and UDP protocols
Applied experience with 802.11 wireless standards and core network protocols (DNS, DHCP, VLANs), including analyzing Wireshark packet captures for debugging and root cause analysis

Nice To Haves

Deep understanding of system performance optimizations including system/traffic profiling and performance-oriented data structure and algorithm development
Hands-on experience with performance testing tools such as iperf, Ixia Traffic Generators (Ixia Chariot, iGen), and equivalent platforms
Experience with hardware and software acceleration paradigms including DPDK, VPP, multi-threading, or similar technologies
Proficiency with Yocto build systems and embedded Linux development
AI-first development mindset with demonstrated experience using modern AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, or Codex

Responsibilities

Drive the evaluation and optimization of performance on MR Access Point devices, directly impacting millions of customers worldwide.
Solve functional and performance-related regressions in our Access Point firmware while actively developing features aligned with emerging 802.11 and networking standards, ensuring we maintain both innovation and legacy compatibility.
Design and implement next-level data plane optimizations by evaluating existing components, identifying performance bottlenecks, and collaborating across teams to deliver novel solutions.
Develop comprehensive tests and processes to proactively triage and resolve performance and functional issues, working with the team to establish processes that elevate product quality.
Lead small-to-medium features from technical design through completion, advocating for customer-centric improvements and articulating design choices grounded in market awareness and competitive positioning.

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
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
grants of Cisco restricted stock units