Software Engineer, DPU Networking stack

Job description

from Cisco careers

The application window is expected to close on: 07/31/2026

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

This is a hybrid position located in Milpitas, CA. Ideally 3 days per week in office.

Meet the Team
 

Cisco is building a next-generation DPU-enabled networking platform for secure, high-performance infrastructure and large-scale AI clusters. Our team is responsible for designing the foundational networking, security, and programmable services that span host systems, DPUs, SmartNICs, and cloud-scale control planes. We work at the intersection of systems software, hardware acceleration, distributed security, and AI infrastructure, creating platforms that deliver line-rate performance, strong isolation, operational reliability, and simplified deployment across modern data center environments.

We are looking for a senior software engineer to develop programmable packet processing pipelines and DPU SDK integrations across modern SmartNIC/DPU platforms, including NVIDIA BlueField, AMD Pensando, and similar architectures .This role focuses on the lower layers of the DPU networking stack: P4 or P4-like pipeline development, vendor SDKs, packet classification, policy enforcement, host networking offload, telemetry, and performance validation. The ideal candidate has strong systems programming skills, deep networking fundamentals, and hands-on experience building or integrating hardware-accelerated data paths.

Your Impact

• Design and implement DPU-based packet-processing pipelines for security, host networking, and network services.
• Work with DPU SDKs, P4 or programmable pipeline models, and vendor-specific offload capabilities.
• Build capabilities for firewall policy enforcement, ACLs, packet classification, metering, telemetry, tunneling, routing, NAT, and load-balancing primitives.
• Develop software across DPU firmware/SDK interfaces, host drivers, Arm-side services, and user-space control components.
• Create portable abstractions across heterogeneous DPU and SmartNIC architectures while preserving platform-specific performance advantages.
• Debug complex issues across host, DPU, SDK, firmware, driver, kernel, and user-space boundaries.
• Validate throughput, latency, scale, offload correctness, failure behavior, and operational visibility.
• Own well-scoped features from design through implementation, testing, performance validation, documentation, and rollout.
• Contribute to design reviews, code reviews, threat modeling, production readiness, and mentoring of other engineers.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 7+ years of related experience, Master’s with 4+ years, or PhD with 1+ year.
• Proficient systems programming experience in C/C++, Go, Rust, Python, or similar languages.
• Experience building production networking, packet-processing, security, infrastructure, or systems software.
• Practical knowledge of Linux networking and debugging complex Linux-based systems.
• Ability to independently own medium-sized technical features from design through delivery.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with DPU, SmartNIC, FPGA, ASIC, NPU, or hardware-offloaded networking platforms.
• Experience with NVIDIA BlueField SDKs, AMD Pensando SDKs, P4, programmable packet pipelines, or equivalent data-plane programming models.
• Familiarity with DPDK, OVS, TC flower, eBPF/XDP, SR-IOV, VF/PF, kernel bypass, hardware offload, or packet-processing acceleration.
• Experience with firewall, ACL, segmentation, host networking, tunneling, NAT, VTEP, load balancing, or service chaining.
• Experience profiling and optimizing packet-processing systems for throughput, latency, scale, and reliability

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 $165,000.00 to $241,400.00 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:

$165,000.00 - $277,600.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$146,700.00 - $247,000.00

* 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.