Trainee Linux Kernel Development Jobs in Illinois

The application window is expected to close on: 06/23/2026

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 platforms. 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

Tetragon is a flexible, observability and runtime security tool that delivers real-time insights and enforcement. Leveraging the power of eBPF, Tetragon provides low-overhead, in-kernel visibility and intelligence across diverse environments.

As a Technical Leader, you will be at the forefront of advancing Tetragon's capabilities. You will guide architectural direction while staying deeply engaged in building the systems that power our platform. Your impact will include extending Tetragon's capabilities to protect a variety of platforms, building infrastructure to deliver protective shields, and creating data pipelines to monitor and analyze data streams.

You will collaborate closely with teams across Cisco, to integrate Tetragon into multiple platforms and adapt it to their needs and capabilities. In this role, you'll solve some of the most complex system-level challenges in observability and infrastructure, helping Tetragon evolve to meet the needs of multiple devices.

What you'll do:

• Design and implement Runtime Security features for Tetragon.

• Develop high-quality Go (andeBPF) code for the Tetragon project.

• Design andoptimizesystems for large-scale data collection, aggregation, and analysis.

• Partner across teams to align requirements, define integration points, and deliver production-readyandsecuresolutions.

• Contribute to open-source projects and represent CiscoIsovalentin community discussions.

• Participate in architecture reviews, code reviews, and documentation.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years of related experience, or PhD + 3 years of related experience

• 8+ years of experience in systems programming (C,Go,or similar; Tetragon is primarily written in Go).

• Experience leading technical direction or architecture for distributed systems, observability,runtime security,or data infrastructure.

• Experiencein system-level development

• Experience in any of these areas: Linux systems, Kernel-level development BPF oreBPFprogramming for observability or security use cases

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Knowledge ofeBPFfor observability or security use cases.

• Experience in debugging and optimization witha track recordof delivering scalableand securesystems.

• Solid background in Linux systems and kernel-level concepts.

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

• Exposurereal-time streaming/aggregation systems and database performance optimization.

• Experience with developingLinux applications for resource-constrained systems

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

• Experiencein leading projects with multiple stakeholders

• Experience working across diverse, distributed teams

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 $210,600.00 to $305,100.00 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:

$210,600.00 - $350,800.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$189,300.00 - $312,200.00

• 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.

Cisco is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis.

Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.