Software Engineer: Python - Automation, Networking
About the job
- Bachelor's degree and 7 years of related experience, or Master's degree and 4 years of related experience, or PhD and 1 year of related experience.
- Solid conceptual and practical knowledge of networking products and experience working with a range of technologies.
- Experience with data center networking protocols and technologies, including VXLAN, MP-BGP EVPN, and Layer 2/Layer 3 connectivity.
- Experience with automation tools and scripting languages, including Python and REST APIs.
- Ability to analyze and troubleshoot complex network and software issues.
- Experience with test automation frameworks and continuous integration processes.
- Develop and execute comprehensive test plans and cases for Cisco ACI features, including fabric deployment, management, monitoring, and automation.
- Validate Cisco ACI fabric infrastructure, including leaf/spine topology, APIC controllers, and fabric initialization processes.
- Test integration with virtualization platforms, including VMware vCenter, OpenShift, and Kubernetes, and with container networking interfaces.
- Ensure the quality of automation workflows and APIs, including RESTful APIs and CobraSDK, used for fabric programmability.
- Collaborate with development and product teams to improve test automation frameworks and infrastructure-as-code practices.
- Understand project or department needs and establish relationships with cross-functional partners to gather input, collect information, and complete work steps.
- Lead projects end-to-end through delegation, review, and holistic delivery, as needed.
- Lead medium-sized features from technical design through completion, as needed.
- Identify and recommend improvements to the software development lifecycle and standard processes in agile engineering.
- Deliver high-quality feature designs and work.
- Identify opportunities for multiple products to work together to create customer value.
- Apply product sense to product design, including market awareness, production adoption, and competition, and track related metrics.
- Test and review code to optimize the scale, velocity, and reliability of the work.
- Develop expertise across multiple functional components.
- Share knowledge across teams informally and formally, including through internal presentations, blogs, and newsletters.
- Coordinate across teams to estimate timelines and complete projects according to specifications and user requirements.
- Track breakthroughs and progress, and provide cross-functional partners with ongoing updates and remediation plans.
- Familiarity with AI-powered infrastructure automation and infrastructure-as-code concepts applied to data center products.
About the company
Cisco makes the switches and routers that connect offices, data centers, and cloud services, and it also sells cybersecurity tools and Webex video meetings to businesses and governments. It was one of the first companies to sell routers that let different kinds of computer networks exchange data, and in 2000 it briefly became the world's most valuable company. Customers run its network gear, from Wi-Fi access points to AI data center systems, with Cisco software that sets up and secures the network, while its Splunk unit searches computer logs to catch outages and attacks. Cisco earns money from hardware sales, software subscriptions, and support contracts. It was founded in 1984 and is based in San Jose, California.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
San Jose, California
Founded
1984
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Cloud giants fuel growth: they ordered $9.3 billion of Cisco's AI gear in the year to July 2026, up 4.5-fold.
- Stock awards gained value: Cisco shares rose 63% in the year to October 2026, four times the S&P 500's 15%.
- Signed deals steady the business: Cisco had $46.7 billion of contracted sales still to deliver in July 2026, up 7%.
What critics are saying
- Record sales didn't stop layoffs: Cisco cut nearly 4,000 jobs, just under 5% of staff, in May 2026.
- Rivals lead in data center switches: in the June 2026 quarter, Nvidia held 20.4%, Arista 18.7% and Cisco 18.2%.
- Hardware-heavy AI growth squeezes profit: Cisco's gross margin fell to 66.3% from 68.4% in the July 2026 quarter.
What makes Cisco unique
- Cisco still sells the most network switches: it took 28.7% of worldwide switch sales in the June 2026 quarter.
- Cisco designs its own networking chips: Microsoft and Alibaba signed on early for its Silicon One P200, launched October 2025.
- Cisco trains future network engineers: its Networking Academy has taught over 28 million learners in 195 countries since 1997.
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Benefits
Paid Vacation
Hybrid Work Options
Flexible Work Hours
Professional Development Budget
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 0%2 year growth
↑ 0%Oracle and Cisco are both positioned to benefit from growing AI infrastructure demand, though through different approaches. Oracle focuses on cloud computing power through its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, while Cisco concentrates on networking and security, including its Secure AI Factory partnership with Nvidia. Oracle reported annual sales of $67.36 billion and net income of $17.09 billion, outpacing Cisco's $63.33 billion in sales and $13.27 billion in profit. Oracle trades at 22 times forward earnings versus Cisco's 27 times. Both companies offer a 1.4% dividend yield. However, Oracle's payout ratio stands at 29%, compared with Cisco's 45%, providing more reinvestment flexibility. Cisco has delivered stronger stock performance with 112% returns over five years, more than double Oracle's 51%. Analysts rate Oracle a "Strong Buy" and Cisco a "Moderate Buy".
Cisco has appointed Girish Rishi to its board of directors, effective immediately. Rishi currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Cognite, an industrial AI company, and is a senior adviser to Blackstone. Rishi brings three decades of experience leading technology businesses across hardware, software and systems. He previously served as CEO of Blue Yonder and held executive positions at Tyco International, Zebra Technologies, Motorola Solutions and Symbol Technologies. Cisco chair and CEO Chuck Robbins said Rishi's expertise in helping organisations harness data and AI would be invaluable as Cisco provides infrastructure for the AI era. Rishi also serves on the board of Insight Enterprises and holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University, University of Hartford and University of Mumbai.
Cisco announced new AI-powered collaboration tools at WebexOne 2026 in Austin, Texas. The company is integrating AI agents into Webex to work alongside human teams, with capabilities including Claude Managed Agents for analysis and content generation. The updates encompass three areas: workspace collaboration, physical workplace management, and customer experience. Webex will support AI agents that can be invited into meetings and execute multi-step tasks across applications. The platform will integrate with OpenAI's dots and implement enterprise security controls. Cisco introduced RoomOS 27 for collaboration devices, featuring native support for Google Meet alongside existing platforms. The company also unveiled Dialog, an AI system designed to maintain continuous customer relationships across interactions. The new Cisco Ceiling Speaker Pro completes the company's IP-connected meeting space ecosystem. All updates build on Cisco's unified foundation combining networking, security, and workplace intelligence.
Quantum XChange has joined the Cisco Networking App Marketplace as a Cisco Technology Partner. The company's Phio TX-EM application is now the first FIPS-validated post-quantum cryptography solution available in the Marketplace. Phio TX-EM is a containerised key management application that runs on Cisco routers and switches without requiring additional hardware or causing network downtime. The software delivers quantum-safe encryption to protect against "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" attacks, where adversaries collect encrypted data now to decrypt it later using quantum computers. The application supports multi-algorithm cryptography and allows organisations to update encryption algorithms without router reconfiguration or network disruption. It runs natively on Cisco SKIP-enabled devices, including Catalyst 8000 Series products and Nexus switches. Phio TX-EM has received FIPS 140-3 Level 2 and FIPS 203 validation. The solution is designed for enterprise networks and supports continuous key rotation across distributed, multi-site architectures.
Cisco Systems investors should focus on one key metric: growth outside AI infrastructure, which management expects to reach about 10% in fiscal 2027. Whilst AI infrastructure generates headlines, it represents only 6% of Cisco's revenue, with the remainder coming from networking and security products sold to enterprises and telecoms. The company's product orders rose 35% year-on-year in fiscal Q4 2026, with Wi-Fi 7 accounting for over half of wireless orders. Management forecasts fiscal 2027 revenue of $72.2 billion to $73.4 billion, with $7.5 billion from AI infrastructure. However, challenges loom. Comparisons become tougher in the second half of fiscal 2027, gross margins face pressure from increased hardware shipments, and price increases contributed about 5 percentage points to recent revenue growth. The stock trades at 31.8 times earnings, above the S&P 500's 21.9 multiple, leaving little margin for error.