Cisco Logo

Cisco

Director, Software Engineering (Security Business Group)

Posted Yesterday
Be an Early Applicant
In-Office
Milpitas, CA, USA
241K-417K Annually
Expert/Leader
In-Office
Milpitas, CA, USA
241K-417K Annually
Expert/Leader
Leads multiple global engineering teams developing scalable cloud security management and control-plane services. Sets technical strategy, drives full software delivery, mentors managers and engineers, hires talent, and partners cross-functionally with product, architecture, operations, UX, security, and customer success teams. The role requires expertise in cloud platforms, distributed systems, microservices, AI/ML, DevOps, observability, security platforms, and enterprise SaaS reliability at scale.
The summary above was generated by AI
The application window is expected to close on: 09/14/2026Meet the Team  
Cisco’s Cloud Security organization is at the forefront of securing the modern workforce, protecting users, data, and applications wherever they reside. As the cornerstone of Cisco’s Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) strategy, we deliver cloud-native protection for users, data, and application no matter where they reside. 
 
 
Cisco’s Cloud Security team is looking for a Director of Software Engineering to lead an engineering team working on our market-leading Security Service Edge (SSE) products. In this role, you will drive the strategy, execution, and delivery of multiple management/control plane services of Cisco secure Access including policy and access control, cloud control plane and service reliability, behavior analytics and security data platform, AI enabled assistant and intelligent automation, and similar services. 
 
 
You will lead multiple engineering teams building scalable, high-performance systems that protect millions of users around the world as they access the internet and cloud applications. This is a pivotal leadership role that requires strong technical depth, cloud platform expertise, and the ability to implement at scale in a fast-paced environment. 
 
Your Impact 
 
As the Director of Software Engineering, you will: 
  • Lead and Inspire: Manage and mentor a high-performing engineering teams responsible for full development cycle of multiple management/ control plane services. 
  • Strategic Direction: Set technical direction and vision for cloud security services, collaborating with Product Management, UX, and Security stakeholders to deliver innovative, scalable, and secure solutions. 
  • Execution Excellence: Drive end-to-end software development, from design through deployment, ensuring timely and high-quality delivery. 
  • Team Development: Attract, hire, and retain top engineering talent; foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and diversity. 
  • Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with architecture, operations, and customer success teams to ensure seamless integration, high reliability, and outstanding user experience. 
  • Continuous Improvement: Champion process and technology improvements, leveraging metrics and customer feedback to optimize products and engineering practices.  
Minimum Qualifications 
  • 15+ years of software engineering experience, including significant experience leading managers and global teams. 
  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field. 
  • Experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, GCP or Azure), distributed systems, micro service architecture, multi-tenant services or similar data platforms, AI/ML systems, and observability, record delivering enterprise cloud software or SaaS platforms with demanding availability, scale, security, and data-consistency requirements. 
  • Experience with modern software development practices, including CI/CD and DevOps, with experience building agentic systems and employing AI to improve productivity across the software development lifecycle (SDLC). 
Preferred Qualifications 
  • Experience with security platforms, zero trust, SSE/SASE, ZTNA, SWG, CASB, DLP, FWaaS, DNS security, browser isolation, or digital experience monitoring. 
  • Experience with policy distribution, routing, identity-aware access, security telemetry, audit/event history, behavioral analytics, and event-driven data platforms. 
  • Expertise in full stack development with experience in React, python, go, java. 
  • Familiarity with regulated enterprise or public-sector environments and security/compliance programs such as FedRAMP. 
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. 

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada: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.

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.

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.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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)

  • 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

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

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:

  • .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;

  • 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;

  • 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and

  • Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

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.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$250,600.00 - $416,900.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$241,400.00 - $371,000.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.

HQ

Cisco San Jose, California, USA Office

San Jose, CA, United States

Cisco Berkeley, California, USA Office

Berkeley, United States

Cisco Campbell, California, USA Office

Campbell, United States

Cisco Cupertino, California, USA Office

Cupertino, United States

Cisco Fremont, California, USA Office

Fremont, United States

Cisco Los Altos, California, USA Office

Los Altos, United States

Cisco Milpitas, California, USA Office

Milpitas, United States

Cisco Mountain View, California, USA Office

Mountain View, United States

Cisco Palo Alto, California, USA Office

Palo Alto, United States

Cisco Pleasanton, California, USA Office

Pleasanton, United States

Cisco San Bruno, California, USA Office

San Bruno, United States

Cisco San Francisco, California, USA Office

San Francisco, United States

Cisco San Mateo, California, USA Office

San Mateo, United States

Cisco San Ramon, California, USA Office

San Ramon, United States

Cisco Santa Clara, California, USA Office

Santa Clara, United States

Cisco Saratoga, California, USA Office

Saratoga, United States

Cisco Stanford, California, USA Office

Stanford, United States

Cisco Sunnyvale, California, USA Office

Sunnyvale, United States

Similar Jobs

8 Minutes Ago
Remote or Hybrid
US
135K-210K Annually
Senior level
135K-210K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Payments • Software • Business Intelligence • Generative AI • Automation
Lead product vision, strategy, adoption, roadmap prioritization, user research, metrics, and cross-functional execution for an AI-powered B2B insurance submissions platform. Partner across design, engineering, marketing, customer experience, and operations; manage integrations with adjacent products; resolve dependencies; communicate strategy and outcomes to senior leadership; and mentor other product managers.
Top Skills: AgileAIApplied EpicConfluenceJIRA
An Hour Ago
Hybrid
Santa Clara, CA, USA
221K-387K Annually
Expert/Leader
221K-387K Annually
Expert/Leader
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • HR Tech • Information Technology • Productivity • Software • Automation
Leads ServiceNow’s Data & Storage Reliability Engineering organization, overseeing globally distributed teams responsible for database, storage, cloud infrastructure, observability, performance, resilience, diagnostics, automation, and production analytics. Establishes reliability standards, metrics, governance, and investment roadmaps; translates incidents, telemetry, customer escalations, and migration outcomes into systemic engineering improvements. Partners with product, infrastructure, database, operations, and support teams to improve platform reliability, scalability, performance, and customer outcomes.
Top Skills: Ai-Powered ToolsCloud InfrastructureCloud-Native Database PlatformsDatabasesDiagnostics FrameworksDistributed SystemsLinuxMariadbMySQLObservability PlatformsOraclePostgresServicenow PlatformSQL ServerStorage TechnologiesTelemetry Systems
An Hour Ago
Remote or Hybrid
5 Locations
99K-232K Annually
Senior level
99K-232K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Professional Services • Business Intelligence • Consulting • Cybersecurity • Generative AI
Lead end-to-end NetSuite implementations as a functional consultant and team manager. Manage finance transformation initiatives, NetSuite order-to-cash, purchase-to-pay, and account-to-report workstreams, Advanced Revenue Management and SuiteBilling implementations, customizations, integrations, and testing. Lead onshore and offshore teams, address client needs, communicate complex concepts, and apply accounting and finance expertise to deliver effective technology solutions.
Top Skills: Erp IntegrationsNetSuiteNetsuite Advanced Revenue ManagementNetsuite Multibook AccountingOracleSuitebilling

What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene

San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area attracts more startup funding than any other region in the world. Home to Stanford University and UC Berkeley, leading VC firms and several of the world’s most valuable companies, the Bay Area is the place to go for anyone looking to make it big in the tech industry. That said, San Francisco has a lot to offer beyond technology thanks to a thriving art and music scene, excellent food and a short drive to several of the country’s most beautiful recreational areas.

Key Facts About San Francisco Tech

  • Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
  • Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
  • Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
  • Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
  • Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
  • Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Sign up now Access later

Create Free Account

Please log in or sign up to report this job.

Create Free Account