Software Engineer, Test Automation

The application window is expected to close on: 09/17/2026 Meet the Team Are you ready to shape the future of AI-powered quality? We are seeking a software engineer to build test infrastructure for our AI-agentic Security Operations Center (SOC)! Together, we define the strategic direction that secures the absolute reliability and performance of our most complex systems. We work to mentor world-class engineering talent, drive the adoption of groundbreaking benchmarking, and catalyze the evolution of our quality ecosystems. Join us as we work to transform high-level challenges into scalable, high-impact solutions.

This role is designed for an engineer who translates quality challenges into technical solutions, driving engineering efficiency through evaluation strategies and implementation. In this role, you will collaborate with team members and implement benchmarking protocols that support our technical performance goals. Responsibilities include: Technical Contribution: Contribute to the development of PQ foundations and evaluation frameworks, ensuring assessment capabilities for AI agents, workflows, and system processes. Methodology Implementation: Find opportunities in testing methodologies and develop AI-based solutions or agents to mitigate risk and enhance system integrity. Technical Collaboration & Support: Support the team by collaborating with members, participating in code and design reviews, and assisting in the validation of technical hypotheses. Experimental Execution: Implement the lifecycle of proof-of-concepts (POCs), adhering to standards for experimentation and the validation of testing paradigms. Quality Ecosystem Maintenance: Ensure that testing processes deliver reliable, high-quality outcomes, maintaining alignment with team quality goals. Validation Execution: Implement validation techniques, including LLM-as-judge methodologies, tenant isolation probes, and behavioral regression suites. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with engineering teams to implement contract testing, audit log validation, and security compliance, ensuring integration of quality across the development lifecycle.

Bachelor’s degree plus 8+ years of experience in software development and test automation, including experience building large-scale testing ecosystems. Demonstrated experience in programming, specifically Python and Go, with a proven ability to design scalable, maintainable, and high-performance testing infrastructure. Demonstrated experience with security compliance frameworks. Demonstrated experience with modern performance testing methodologies. Demonstrated experience using AI to build automation (writing AI skills to build test automation).

Problem-Solving: Capacity to translate quality challenges into structured and actionable technical implementations. Technical Vision: Ability to innovate within the AI/ML landscape, applying modern tooling to drive detection efficacy and system reliability. Test Automation: Go, Python, Contract testing frameworks, Playwright. Security & Compliance: Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework (OCSF) validation libraries, vacuum linter, Caldera, tenant isolation probes, and audit log validation. AI/ML Testing: Expertise in LLM APIs (Claude, Codex), prompt engineering, and the design of agentic workflows. Proficiency in LangChain and LangSmith to ensure model reliability, AI behavioral regression, and LLM-as-judge frameworks. Performance Testing: K6, Terra Virtual Machine (Security Suite), and JMeter. 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