Software Engineer - Backend | Ruby on Rails and Cloud Networking | 6-10 years

Meet the team

Cisco Networking is dedicated to delivering industry-leading, cloud-managed solutions that power global connectivity. Our team is responsible for the backend services, scalable APIs, and operational systems that support the next generation of network management. We foster a culture of collaboration, working closely with product management, networking engineers, platform teams, and Quality Assurance (QA) to build high-quality, production-ready solutions that enhance the customer experience.

Your Impact

As a Software Engineer on this team, you will design and build the backend architecture that enables seamless cloud-managed networking. You will play a critical role in developing workflows for device inventory, configuration, telemetry, and operational visibility. Your work will directly influence the reliability and scalability of our platforms, as you debug production issues, enhance observability, and mentor junior engineers. By bridging the gap between sophisticated software engineering and practical Layer 2/Layer 3 networking, you will ensure our customers receive robust, high-performance networking tools.

Minimum qualification

• 6+ years of professional software development experience, with a focus on backend engineering in production environments.
• Expertise in Ruby on Rails, which is the primary backend technology for this role.
• Proficiency in at least one additional backend language (e.g., Python, Go, or Java).
• Demonstrated experience designing scalable services, REST/gRPC APIs, complex data models, and microservices in cloud environments.
• Strong practical understanding of Layer 2 networking fundamentals, including VLANs, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), packet flow, and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Infrastructure Provisioning (IP) troubleshooting.
• Experience with relational databases, including schema design, query performance, and indexing strategies.
• Proven ability to debug production issues using logs, metrics, and observability tools (e.g., Grafana, Kibana, or CloudWatch).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate technical tradeoffs to diverse stakeholders.

Preferred qualification

• NETWORKING PRODUCTS: Experience building products in networking, cloud-managed infrastructure, network management, switching, routing, wireless, or security domains. 

• CLOUD PLATFORMS: Exposure to AWS or similar cloud platforms, including services such as EC2, EKS, S3, RDS, CloudWatch, or equivalent services. 

• DEVOPS EXPOSURE: Working knowledge of CI/CD, containers, Kubernetes, Docker, infrastructure-as-code, and safe production deployment practices. 

• OBSERVABILITY: Experience with Grafana, Kibana, Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, ELK/OpenSearch, or similar monitoring, logging, and tracing tools. 

Why Cisco? 

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere. 

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.