Principal Software Engineer, Tetragon

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California, +4 more states.

📋 Description

• Develop high-quality Go (and eBPF) code for the Tetragon initiative.

• Expand Tetragon's functionalities to address security vulnerabilities.

• Improve Tetragon's ability to comprehend and manage the execution flow of native (e.g., C/C++) or runtime-based (Java, Python, Go, etc.) applications.

• Upgrade Tetragon's capabilities to filter out malicious network packets that may exploit vulnerabilities in applications or systems.

• Enhance Tetragon, and potentially the kernel and eBPF sub-system, to guard against kernel-level vulnerabilities.

• Design and optimize systems for deploying and managing Tetragon across extensive fleets, in Kubernetes or other environments (VMs).

• Architect infrastructure that transforms raw event data into intelligence streams with minimal performance impact.

• Collaborate across teams to align requirements, establish integration points, and deliver production-ready solutions.

• Contribute to open-source initiatives and represent Cisco Isovalent in community discussions.

• Engage in architecture reviews, code reviews, and documentation efforts.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with 15 years of relevant experience, or Master’s degree with 12 years of relevant experience, or PhD with 8 years of relevant experience, or equivalent experience.

• Over 10 years of experience in systems programming (C, C++, Go, Rust, or similar; Tetragon is primarily developed in Go).

• Demonstrated experience in leading technical direction or architecture for runtime security systems, observability, or comparable areas.

• Background in OS-level development, distributed systems, or database systems.

• Proficient in debugging and performance optimization, with a history of delivering scalable systems.

• Experience in building eBPF-based systems for observability or security applications (preferred).

• Strong foundation in Linux systems and kernel-level concepts (preferred).

• Knowledge of Kubernetes and cloud-native environments (preferred).

• Familiarity with CVE workflows, vulnerability data pipelines, or security event modeling (preferred).

• Understanding of how vulnerable software can be exploited at all levels (preferred).

• Extensive experience in networking protocol analysis or development of networking switches (e.g., L2/L3 protocols like ARP, DHCP, SNMP) (preferred).

• Contributions to open-source projects in networking, observability, or distributed systems (preferred).

🏝️ Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.

• 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution.

• Paid parental leave.

• Short and long-term disability coverage.

• Basic life insurance.

• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year.

• 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees.

• 1 paid day off for the employee’s birthday.

• Paid year-end holiday shutdown.

• 4 paid days off for personal wellness.

• 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year for non-exempt employees.

• Flexible vacation time off program for exempt employees.

• Up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next.

• Additional paid time away may be requested.

• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.