Principal Software Engineer, Load Balancer

Principal Software Engineer, Load Balancer – Isovalent

Isovalent, now part of Cisco, is the company founded by the creators of Cilium and eBPF. Cisco Isovalent builds open-source software and enterprise solutions solving networking, security, and observability needs for modern cloud native infrastructure. The flagship technology, Cilium, is the choice of numerous, industry-leading, global organizations.

We believe in fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace where every team member feels valued, respected, and empowered. We believe that every employee contributes to our success, and we are committed to fostering an environment where everyone can thrive. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply and join us in our mission to deliver exceptional products and services.

About this role:

Cisco Isovalent is seeking a skilled and experienced Software Engineer to develop its next generation Load Balancer leveraging the technology developed with Cilium. You will be responsible for driving forward a standalone eBPF load balancer, enabling scalable, secure, and resilient traffic management in cloud and hybrid enterprise environments. You will work with a highly collaborative and skilled team to build solutions that advance the next generation of networking and security in Kubernetes environments.

What you'll do:

• Define and evolve the architecture of our enterprise-grade load balancer.
• Lead design and development of the load balancer's data plane, control plane and orchestration tools for scalable traffic management and high availability within Kubernetes.
• Guide the team through technical decisions, design reviews, and performance/security optimizations.
• Collaborate across engineering, product, and customer teams to align technical direction with business needs.
• Contribute to and uphold engineering best practices, code quality, and operational excellence.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors Computer Science degree, or related fields
• 5+ years of experience developing load balancing software, preferably with Go
• Experience with Kubernetes, Cloud Native workloads and/or distributed systems

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge about Linux systems design, security and/or networking, Linux kernel
• Desire to write high quality and efficient code
• Experience designing and implementing APIs
• A public track record of open-source code commits is a plus

Why Cisco Secure

We're global, we're adaptable, we're diverse, and our security portfolio is as extensive as it is groundbreaking. Have you heard of Threat, Detection & Response, Zero Trust by Duo, Common Services Engineering, or Cloud & Network Security? Those are only a few of our product teams The only thing we're missing is YOU.

Join an enterprise security leader with a start-up culture, committed to driving innovation and giving you the opportunity to make an impact. We #InnovateToWin and we know we're better together, that's why we're dedicated to inclusivity, collaboration, and diversity in everything we do.

We're proud to be the Best Small and Mid-Size Enterprises Security Solution Cisco Secure continues to grow and evolve year after year with 100% of Fortune 100 Companies using our products, and we're excited to see the new heights we'll reach with your passion for security, your customer focus, and your desire to change things up There are so many amazing reasons to join Cisco. Learn more here

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.

---