Tetragon Software Engineer, Technical Leader

The application window is expected to close on: August 15, 2025.

NOTE: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

Isovalent, now part of Cisco, is the company founded by the creators of Cilium and eBPF. Cisco Isovalent builds open-source software and enterprise solutions solving networking, security, and observability needs for modern cloud native infrastructure. The flagship technologies, Cilium and Tetragon, are the choice of numerous, industry-leading, global organizations.

We believe in fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace where every team member feels valued, respected, and empowered. We believe that every employee contributes to our success, and we are committed to fostering an environment where everyone can thrive. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply and join us in our mission to deliver exceptional products and services.

Your Impact

Cilium Tetragon is a flexible, Kubernetes-aware security tool, with real-time observability and enforcement. Leveraging the power of eBPF, Tetragon offers a low-overhead, in-kernel solution that enhances security posture by monitoring system behaviors such as process executions, system call activities, network activity and file access events for both embedded systems and cloud native environments.

This role is for a Tetragon software engineer primarily with focus on developing the Tetragon agent, enablement for various embedded platforms and cloud environments, and developing Tetragon's BPF programs that are loaded to detect and prevent malicious activity.

What you'll do:

• Develop high-quality Go (and eBPF) code for the Tetragon project
• Be a part of the Tetragon, Cilium, and eBPF OSS communities
• Design and implement advanced eBPF-based runtime security mechanisms for embedded, Kubernetes and VM environments.
• Enhance and improve Tetragon's network parser capabilities.
• Tackle challenging technical problems
• Participate in code reviews, architectural discussions, and contribute to technical documentation

Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in Systems programming like C, C++, C#, Go or Rust (Tetragon is primarily written in Go)
• Experience in any of these areas: Linux systems, Kernel-level development BPF or eBPF programming for observability or security use cases
• Strong experience in networking protocol analysis or experience in developing networking switches (e.g., L2/L3 protocols like ARP, DHCP, SNMP)
• Experience working with or building for embedded systems (e.g., custom build environments, resource-constrained hardware)

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience integrating or developing security frameworks for infrastructure-level products
• Background in threat modeling, risk analysis, or developing intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS)
• Familiarity with Cisco networking products or similar network infrastructure at scale (e.g., Nexus, Catalyst switches, firewall appliances)
• Experience with low-level packet analysis and protocol parsing (e.g., custom tooling, VPP, InMaps)
• Contributions to open-source security or networking projects (e.g., Tetragon, Cilium, Linux networking stack)
• Good communication skills, both written and verbal

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. Simply put - we power the future.

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.