Quality Engineer – Solution Engineering

This is a hybrid role located in RTP, North Carolina, must be able to go to the office 3 days a week

Meet the Team

Cloud Security Engineering at Cisco drives the technology that is redefining how global enterprises securely and seamlessly connect their networks, applications, and hybrid workforces. Within this organization, the Solution Engineering Quality team is responsible for end-to-end system, feature, and scale validation across the Cisco Secure Access and Cisco Umbrella platforms. We are a collaborative, forward-thinking engineering group that thrives on technical experimentation, continuous learning, and close partnership with development, architecture, and product teams. By pushing the boundaries of Cloud Native SASE, SSE, and SD-WAN technologies, our team ensures that millions of users experience resilient, high-performance security every day.

Your Impact

As a Quality Engineer on the Solution Engineering team, you will design, build, and maintain robust automated testing frameworks to validate complex, multi-service Cloud Native architectures from concept through post-launch. You will evaluate and mitigate architectural risks across system functionality, performance, and scalability to prevent critical production regressions. You will collaborate with cross-functional development and security teams to identify vulnerabilities, analyze root causes, and accelerate time-to-resolution for system-level stability issues. Additionally, you will drive continuous test innovation by benchmarking emerging technologies, libraries, and automation tools to elevate overall platform reliability.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 4+ years of professional experience in software quality engineering, system testing, or test automation.
• Experience with programming and automation scripting using Python or Go (Golang).
• Experience testing cloud-native architectures utilizing Docker containers, Kubernetes orchestration, and public cloud platforms (e.g., Amazon Web Services/GCP).
• Experience with core networking protocols and VPN technologies (TCP/IP, SSL/TLS, DTLS, IPsec, or IKEv2).

Preferred Qualifications

• Domain expertise in Security Service Edge (SSE), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), SD-WAN, Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), or Next-Generation Firewalls.
• Experience testing high-throughput distributed network services (load balancers, reverse proxies, caching engines, SSL termination, or application firewalls).
• Proven track record building and executing performance, scale, or chaos test suites (e.g., Locust, JMeter, or custom scale harnesses).
• Experience working in fast-paced Agile/Scrum environments with active participation in CI/CD pipeline integration and sprint retrospectives.
• Strong analytical problem-solving skills with effective technical communication across cross-functional engineering teams.

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 $128,600.00 to $184,900.00 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:

$155,000.00 - $256,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$138,100.00 - $227,900.00

* 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.