Principal Software Engineer (Security & Policy Platform) (Remote)

<p>This is a fully remote opportunity open to candidates located anywhere in the United States.</p><p>Meet the Team</p><p><br></p><p>You will join Cisco’s Security and Policy Platform Group, a foundational organization responsible for transforming Cisco’s Security products from single point products to comprehensive security outcomes, as a Principal Engineer. The team delivers secure, scalable capabilities enabling customers to control and security policies across Cisco and third-party products.</p><p>This work spans cloud and client infrastructure, security, policy and networking, with a strong emphasis on reliability, interoperability, and long-term scalability!</p><p><br></p><p>Your Impact</p><ul><li>Innovate, develop, and drive unique software and technology solutions with global impact across Cisco’s broader product portfolio and multiple technology and business groups.</li><li>Act as an internal, external, and industry expert, applying deep technical expertise to provide mentorship and consultation on sophisticated challenges.</li><li>Serve as a domain expert or cross-domain integrator, leveraging breadth of knowledge to connect emerging technology trends and assess their impact on Cisco products.</li><li>Guide and set standards for the technical direction of Cisco’s software and technology solutions, influencing industry trends, business leaders, and Cisco’s technical community.</li><li>Ensure the development, execution, and enablement of technology strategies that deliver long-term business impact.</li><li>Stay ahead of evolving technology and industry trends, shaping innovation and enabling Cisco to maintain a strong competitive advantage.</li><li>Partner across engineering, product, and business teams to translate strategic vision into scalable, high-impact solutions.</li><li>Mentor and influence senior technical leaders, driving architectural consistency and engineering excellence across the organization.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Minimum Qualifications:</p><ul><li>Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field with 12+ years of experience designing and developing large-scale software, platform, or distributed systems.</li><li>Experience building and scaling highly available, secure, and distributed systems in cloud or hybrid environments.</li><li>Experience writing high-quality, production-grade code using modern programming languages (e.g., Go, Rust, or C++).</li><li>5+ years of experience with security, privacy, and data protection principles as applied to policy and platform systems.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Preferred Qualifications:</p><ul><li>Advanced degree (Master’s or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.</li><li>Recognized technical leadership as a domain expert or cross-domain integrator influencing architecture across multiple product lines or business units.</li><li>Experience driving platform strategy in large-scale enterprise or cloud environments.</li><li>Experience integrating systems with broader platform services such as observability, data platforms, or AI/ML-driven systems.</li><li>Track record of influencing technical direction and aligning stakeholders across a large, matrixed organization.</li><li>Experience defining technical architecture and driving end-to-end system design across multiple teams or organizations.</li><li>Contributions to industry standards, open-source projects, patents, or publications.</li><li>Ability to translate emerging technology trends into long-term strategic direction and business impact.</li><li>Experience designing and developing network policy systems, including policy modeling, provisioning, distribution, or enforcement across areas such as access control, segmentation, QoA, or network security.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Why Cisco?</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.</p><p><br></p><p>Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:</p><p><br></p><p>The starting salary range posted for this position is $250,600.00 to $362,600.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.</p><p><br></p><p>Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.</p><p><br></p><p>U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.</p><p><br></p><p>U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:</p><ul><li>10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees</li><li>1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco</li><li>Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees</li><li>Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)</li><li>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</li><li>Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members</li><li>Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer</li></ul><p><br></p><p>For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.</p><p><br></p><p>Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:</p><ul><li>.75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;</li><li>1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;</li><li>1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and</li><li>Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.</p><p><br></p>

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Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...

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