Software Engineering Technical Leader Job Milpitas area,California USA,Software Development

Senior Software Technical Leader

We are seeking an experienced Senior Software Technical Leader to drive architecture and software development for next-generation networking platforms spanning Silicon One NPUs, AI fabrics, coherent optical systems, silicon photonics, co-packaged optics, PHY subsystems, and distributed NOS integration.

This role develops software consistent with Cisco Design Thinking Principles, with a focus on simplification, user experience, secure coding practices, user privacy, and software development best practices. The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in datapath systems, embedded software, coherent optics architecture, CMIS/SFF standards, scalable systems software, and distributed networking platforms.

The candidate will partner closely with ASIC, optics, photonics, DSP, system architecture, product management, and software teams to create the right solutions for customers. This role includes creating technical design documentation, contributing to user documentation, debugging complex software and system issues in development and production, and bringing new ideas for product innovation and software development process improvement.

Your Impact

Serve as a recognized technical expert within Cisco, leading architecture and technical direction for coherent optics, datapath software, and next-generation networking platforms
Drive software architecture for coherent pluggable optics, co-packaged optics, silicon photonics, PHY subsystems, and distributed NOS integration
Lead CMIS/SFF-compliant framework design, optical management architectures, telemetry, diagnostics, and observability for next-generation optical systems
Collaborate across ASIC/NPU, optics, photonics, DSP, PHY, system architecture, product management, and platform software teams to deliver customer-focused solutions
Lead major technical initiatives and large platform features from technical design through completion, influencing product direction, roadmap, and engineering priorities
Proactively identify, debug, and resolve complex issues across optics, PHY, DSP, silicon, datapath software, and production systems
Make system-level design trade-offs across software, silicon, optics, scale, performance, reliability, security, and operational complexity
Drive product success through metrics, proactive tooling, issue identification, sustainable response processes, and continuous improvement for production systems
Lead, mentor, and influence senior engineers and technical leads while improving knowledge sharing, technical documentation, and engineering best practices

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree with 12+ years, Master's degree with 8+ years or PhD with 5+ years of experience with a degree in CS, EE, Electronics or a related technical field
Strong expertise in C/C++ and Linux systems software
Experience of coherent or grey optics, PHY / Ser Des, FEC, ASIC / NPU, and DSP-based systems
Proven ability to lead architecture, design, debugging, and delivery of complex cross-functional software and systems programs

Preferred Qualifications:

In-depth knowledge and working experience with Optical standards such as CMIS/SFF are highly preferred
Experience with high-speed Ethernet technologies, including 400G, 800G, and 1.6T systems
Experience with coherent optics, including ZR/ZR+, OpenZR+, or DWDM systems
Experience with co-packaged optics and silicon photonics technologies
Familiarity with coherent DSP architecture and optical line systems
Experience with Cisco Silicon One or equivalent NPU architecture
Experience with IOS-XR, SONiC, FBOSS, or similar distributed NOS platforms and scalable systems software
Experience using AI-assisted development and agentic infrastructure for software design, implementation, debugging, and engineering productivity
Experience with AI networking infrastructure and hyperscale fabrics