Principal Engineer, Platform Engineering Group

Who We Are

Cisco ThousandEyes is a Digital Experience Assurance platform that empowers organizations to deliver flawless digital experiences across every network – even the ones they don’t own. Powered by AI and an unmatched set of cloud, internet and enterprise network telemetry data, ThousandEyes enables IT teams to proactively detect, diagnose, and remediate issues – before they impact end- user experiences.

ThousandEyes is deeply integrated across the entire Cisco technology portfolio and beyond, helping customers deploy at scale while also delivering AI-powered assurance insights within Cisco’s leading Networking, Security, Collaboration, and Observability portfolios.

About The Role

The Application Window is expected to close on 5/7/25. However, the job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received. 

The Platform Engineering group maintains core functionality such as authentication, authorization, subscription management, alerting, auditing, third party integrations, data visualizations, and dashboards within the ThousandEyes SaaS product. The goal of the group is to provide these capabilities to Product teams so they can quickly and efficiently deliver value to our customers leveraging ThousandEyes for their network assurance needs every day.

What You’ll Do

You will report to the Senior Director overseeing the group and will be responsible for ensuring the technical direction of ThousandEyes’ Platform Engineering teams are consistently meeting the challenges they currently face and those they will encounter years into the future. You will be a force multiplier within the group and raise the bar on quality, operational excellence and security. This role will allow you to set a broad vision for how ThousandEyes approaches complex problems in the coming years.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of software development experience
• Fast learner
• Comfortable working with newer technologies
• Able to mentor and grow engineers to meet their potential
• Ability to solve complex problems with simple and maintainable solutions 
• Expert knowledge in performance, scalability, distributed systems, and engineering best practices
• Strong proponent of software quality techniques, such as test driven development and automated acceptance testing
• Expert understanding of Java
• Excellent object-oriented design skills
• Experience with streaming architectures, in particular Kafka
• Experience in open-source development is a plus
• Strong Computer Science fundamentals
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or similar

Cisco values the perspectives and skills that emerge from employees with diverse backgrounds. That's why Cisco is expanding the boundaries of discovering top talent by not only focusing on candidates with educational degrees and experience but also placing more emphasis on unlocking potential. We believe that everyone has something to offer and that diverse teams are better equipped to solve problems, innovate, and create a positive impact.
We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification. Research shows that people from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy. We urge you not to prematurely exclude yourself and to apply if you're interested in this work.

US – COMPENSATION RANGE – MESSAGE TO APPLICANTS

227,100 USD - 323,500 USD

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

When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees have access to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.

Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days of vacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco’s flexible Vacation Time Off policy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco’s Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter.  Up to 80 hours of unused sick time will be carried forward from one calendar year to the next such that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is 160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. 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 up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.