Location: Remote (India)
Department: Platform Engineering / Network Infrastructure
About Us
We are at the forefront of revolutionizing network security and connectivity for enterprise clients globally. Our mission is to build intelligent, high-performance appliances that form the core of modern, secure network infrastructure. We operate like a nimble startup within a stable organization, valuing innovation, deep technical expertise, and a results-driven culture.
Role Overview
We are seeking a seasoned Senior Principal Development Engineer to architect and drive the evolution of our core networking data plane. This is a high-impact, hands-on technical leadership role for an expert in transport connectivity and networking products. You will be responsible for the design, development, and optimization of our flagship enterprise-grade appliances, ensuring they deliver unparalleled performance, scalability, and reliability. You will not just write code; you will set technical direction, mentor top talent, and solve our most complex distributed systems challenges.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Architecture (40%)
- Architect, design, and document major components of our networking stack, focusing on high-throughput, low-latency data path solutions.
- Lead technical decision-making for the networking team, evaluating new technologies, frameworks, and design patterns.
- Drive cross-functional initiatives with Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Cloud teams to ensure a cohesive product architecture.
- Act as a technical ambassador, effectively communicating architectural proposals, project status, and complex concepts to senior management and non-technical stakeholders.
Hands-On Development & Execution (40%)
- Independently own the end-to-end delivery of critical features, from prototyping and development to testing, deployment, and monitoring in production.
- Write clean, maintainable, and performant code primarily in C/C++, with Python for automation and tooling.
- Expertly leverage open-source data plane stacks like Vector Packet Processing (VPP) and Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) to build and optimize our fast-path solutions.
- Develop and enhance features related to IPsec VPNs, Stateful Firewalls, NAT, Load Balancing, and advanced tunneling protocols.
Mentorship & Collaboration (20%)
- Serve as a technical mentor and coach for senior and junior engineers, conducting code reviews and promoting best practices in software engineering, testing, and system design.
- Foster a culture of collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and continuous improvement within the team and across the organization.
- Provide technical guidance and support to SRE and support teams for troubleshooting complex, large-scale production issues.
Essential Qualifications & Experience
Non-Negotiable Technical Skills:
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
- 8+ years of progressive experience in systems programming, with at least 5 years focused on embedded networking or network appliance development.
- Expert-level proficiency in C and/or C++, with a deep understanding of memory management, concurrency, and low-latency programming techniques.
- 3+ years of hands-on, production-level experience with DPDK and/or VPP. You must be able to discuss your specific contributions to data plane performance tuning and feature development.
- Deep, protocol-level understanding of the entire network stack (L2-L4): Ethernet, VLANs, IPv4/IPv6, TCP/UDP, ICMP.
- Proven expertise in implementing and debugging core network functions: Stateful Firewall policies, NAT (SNAT, DNAT), Routing, ARP, DHCP, DNS.
Security & System Expertise
- Hands-on implementation experience with IPsec (IKEv1/IKEv2, ESP/AH tunnels) and/or SSL/TLS termination.
- Substantial experience with Software Defined Networking (SDN) principles and distributed systems architecture.
- Familiarity with overlay technologies and tunneling protocols such as VXLAN, GRE, and Geneve.
Professional Attributes
- A proven track record of independently leading and delivering complex projects from conception to production in a startup or agile, high-growth environment.
- Exceptional problem-solving skills and the ability to diagnose and resolve subtle, system-level issues.
- Outstanding communication skills (both verbal and written), with the ability to articulate technical design choices and trade-offs clearly.
Highly Preferred Qualifications (Differentiators)- Direct development experience with the Trex traffic generator for performance validation and scale testing.
- Cloud Networking Knowledge: Practical experience with networking constructs in AWS (VPC, Transit Gateway, Security Groups), Azure, or GCP.
- Experience with container networking (Docker, Kubernetes CNI).
- Familiarity with configuration management and infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Ansible, Terraform).
- Knowledge of additional programming languages such as Go (Golang) or Rust.
- Contributions to open-source networking projects (VPP, DPDK etc.).
What You Will Gain
- Impact: Your work will be critical to the core technology that powers our global product offerings.
- Growth: Lead initiatives that challenge the status quo and work with a team of world-class engineers.
- Ownership: Autonomy to make key technical decisions and see them through to reality.
- Competitive Compensation: A comprehensive package including salary, equity, and benefits tailored to a principal-level role.
To Apply
Please submit your detailed resume/CV along with a cover letter that highlights your specific experience with VPP/DPDK and a brief description of a complex networking project you led. Include links to your GitHub profile or any relevant public code contributions.
Skills: vpp,code,networking,design,architecture,security,management,infrastructure
