Senior QA Engineer - Networking L2/L3

The application window is expected to close on: 11/07/2026
This is a hybrid role, located in Milpitas, CA and requires being in the office 3 days a week.

Meet the Team

The System Integration Testing (SIT) team validates how new products, features, and technologies work together across Cisco IOS XR platforms and complete network solutions. The team integrates new product introductions (NPIs), validates new features, and tests end-to-end solutions for Service Provider and Data Center networks before final customer shipment (FCS). SIT engineers work closely with development, product, and system teams to identify integration risks early and help deliver reliable, production-ready software. Testing focuses on interoperability, scale, performance, and resiliency across platforms and network environments.

Your Impact

As a Senior QA Engineer, you will lead system integration testing for IOS XR platforms and solutions, including ASR 9000, NCS 5500, and Cisco 8000. You will help ensure that new products and features are ready for deployment before FCS by:

●      Integrating new NPIs and validating IOS XR features across hardware platforms, software releases, and network environments.

●      Designing end-to-end test plans for Service Provider and Data Center solutions, including interoperability, scale, performance, and resiliency testing.

●      Developing and improving automated test frameworks, tools, and execution environments.

●      Performing tests manually and through automation; documenting results; and tracking defects through verification.

●      Identifying integration risks and improving test coverage, automation, and execution efficiency.

●      Reproducing and analyzing issues in system test labs and partnering with development teams to resolve them.

●      Collaborating with product, development, and system teams to align test strategy with requirements and release readiness.

Minimum Qualifications:

●      Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field with 7+ years of relevant experience, or a Master’s degree in a STEM field with 5+ years of relevant experience.

●      4+ years of experience with networking protocols such as IS-IS, BGP, MPLS, IPv6, GRE, MPLS-TE, LDP, RSVP, Segment Routing (SR), SRv6, CFM, L2VPN, L3VPN, and EVPN.

●      4+ years of experience in networking software quality assurance, system integration, or system-level testing.

Preferred Qualifications:

●      CCIP certification in Routing and Switching, Service Provider, or Data Center.

●      Experience with platforms such as ASR 9000, NCS 5500, NCS 5000, NCS 540/NCS 560, NCS 6000, CRS, or Cisco 8000.

●      Experience with Data Center technologies, including RDMA and protocols such as InfiniBand, RoCE, or iWARP.

●      Experience with OpenFlow, NETCONF, and REST APIs.

●      Familiarity with automation tools such as pyATS, Ansible, Jenkins, Robot Framework, and Cisco NSO.

●      Strong UNIX/Linux and shell scripting skills.

●      Hands-on experience configuring or troubleshooting L2/L3 VPN, EVPN, Segment Routing, IPv6, MPLS LDP/RSVP-TE, multicast, SNMP, telemetry, gNMI, gRPC, NETCONF, and OpenConfig YANG models.

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 $167,700.00 to $245,200.00 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:
$167,700.00 - $282,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$149,100.00 - $250,900.00

* 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.