What are the responsibilities and job description for the Application Platform Staff Engineer position at Cisco?
Meet the Team
The Splunk Observability Application Platform Team is a dynamic group of engineers responsible for the core platform powering Splunk Observability Cloud. Our platform is the foundation for advanced observability capabilities that enable our customers to thrive. We operate in small, high-performing teams, driving significant impact and working with microservices at scale. Our mission is to optimize platform systems for reliability, transparency, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, so engineering teams across Splunk Observability can focus on innovation and deliver unique value to customers.
As we enter the agentic AI era, we face exciting opportunities and challenges to expand our platform for both agents and human users. Join us as we shape the next chapter of our platform, increase our scale, and delight our customers. You’ll work with distributed systems, leverage open source where it fits, and build high-performance custom solutions when needed.
Your Impact
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 $183,800.00 to $263,600.00 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:
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
The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:
New York City Metro Area
$183,800.00 - $303,100.00
Non-Metro New York State & Washington State
$163,600.00 - $269,800.00
The Splunk Observability Application Platform Team is a dynamic group of engineers responsible for the core platform powering Splunk Observability Cloud. Our platform is the foundation for advanced observability capabilities that enable our customers to thrive. We operate in small, high-performing teams, driving significant impact and working with microservices at scale. Our mission is to optimize platform systems for reliability, transparency, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, so engineering teams across Splunk Observability can focus on innovation and deliver unique value to customers.
As we enter the agentic AI era, we face exciting opportunities and challenges to expand our platform for both agents and human users. Join us as we shape the next chapter of our platform, increase our scale, and delight our customers. You’ll work with distributed systems, leverage open source where it fits, and build high-performance custom solutions when needed.
Your Impact
- Lead the design and implementation of shared libraries, components, and microservices to build a modern, highly reliable, secure, and scalable application platform.
- Influence and contribute to critical decisions on technical architecture and platform design.
- Collaborate across multiple teams within Cisco to drive platform innovation and ensure seamless integration.
- Mentor and develop engineering talent, fostering a culture of growth and collaboration.
- At least 6 months of hands-on experience effectively leveraging AI coding assistance, with a strong “AI-first” mindset.
- 3 years of proven experience delivering large-scale, distributed SaaS solutions.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field with 8 years of software engineering experience, or a Master’s degree with 6 years of experience.
- Deep understanding of microservices and distributed application architecture, including when to simplify and seek alternatives.
- Exceptional problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Proficiency in Java and the ability to quickly learn new programming languages.
- Experience and knowledge in the observability and monitoring domain.
- Strong troubleshooting and performance profiling capabilities.
- A devops automation mindset with a passion for engineering efficiency and process optimization.
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 $183,800.00 to $263,600.00 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
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.
The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:
New York City Metro Area
$183,800.00 - $303,100.00
Non-Metro New York State & Washington State
$163,600.00 - $269,800.00
- 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.
Salary : $183,800 - $263,600