Senior Technical Leader – Quality & Automation (Python, Kubernetes, Cloud)
Cisco · Posted Nov 3
Networking, cloud, cybersecurity, and enterprise IT infrastructure services
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About the role
The Cisco Common Platform Services (CCPS) organization provides a modern, consistent, and secure platform foundation, and the Cloud Software & Solutions (CSS) group designs enterprise OpenStack and Kubernetes platform solutions for quality, stability, scale, and performance. The role is a technical authority for platform test engineering, responsible for global test strategy, reusable Python automation frameworks, and validation of hybrid cloud infrastructure. This Senior Technical Leader will also mentor engineers and integrate statistical release criteria into CI/CD pipelines.
What you will do
- Define end-to-end quality strategies, SLI/SLO benchmarks, and release readiness criteria across Kubernetes and OpenStack platform solutions.
- Develop, build, and scale modular, reusable test automation frameworks in Python, establishing coding standards and best practices across teams.
- Build automated suites for load, stress, scalability, endurance, failover, and chaos testing across distributed hybrid cloud platforms.
- metrics, logs, traces, profiles (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry), and OS-level evidence to isolate performance bottlenecks and drive fixes with development teams.
- Integrate repeatable test suites and statistical release criteria directly into active CI/CD pipelines.
- Coach engineers through architecture and code reviews, fostering a strong culture of automated testing excellence and shared platform ownership.
Skills used in this role
What the employer is looking for
- We are seeking 12+ years in Software Engineering, Platform Quality, or Reliability Engineering with proven experience in a Technical Lead or Architect capacity (Bachelor’s/master’s degree or equivalent practical experience welcomed).
- Demonstrated expertise designing, building, and maintaining modular, object-oriented test automation frameworks in Python embraced across multiple engineering teams.
- Deep hands-on knowledge of on-premises Kubernetes and OpenStack architecture, container runtimes, networking, storage, and distributed failure modes.
- Consistent record in performance, load, stress, and chaos engineering using tools like Locust, k6, JMeter, kube-burner, Robot Framework, fio, or iperf.
- Strong experience solving complex distributed systems using Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, Linux kernel/OS diagnostics, and distributed tracing.
- Daily use of AI coding tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex) to accelerate test generation, script maintenance, and workflow optimization.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with storage and networking architectures like Ceph, CNI/CSI plugins, OVS/OVN, or bare-metal provisioning.
- Infrastructure as Code & automated lab provisioning experience using Terraform or Ansible.
- Expertise in statistical analysis, capacity planning, and automated benchmark visualizations.
- Relevant industry certifications (CKA/CKS, OpenStack, Linux Foundation, SRE, or Performance Engineering).
Benefits and support
- Compensation and benefits are detailed in the job posting
About Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc. is a worldwide leader in IT, networking, and cybersecurity solutions that transform how people connect, communicate, and collaborate. The company specializes in routing, switching, data center infrastructure, and software-defined networking designed for enterprises of all sizes. Today, Cisco drives major advancements in AI infrastructure, observability, and secure hybrid work platforms.
- Industry
- Networking
- Company size
- 90000+ employees
- Founded
- 1984
- Location
- San Jose, California, USA
- Funding stage
- Public Company
Leadership
Chair and Chief Executive Officer
President and Chief Product Officer
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer
Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer
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