Senior C++ Engineer - SONiC

About Arista Networks: Arista Networks is an undisputed industry pioneer in data-driven, client-to-cloud networking solutions designed for large-scale data center, campus, and high-performance routing environments. By leveraging the latest advancements in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and programmable software-defined networking (SDN), Arista provides global enterprises with a definitive competitive edge. Consistently decorated with prestigious awards—including Best Engineering Team, Best Company for Diversity, and top rankings for Work-Life Balance—Arista fosters a highly inclusive environment where elite developers own their systems from initial definition to live multi-region deployment.

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly autonomous, systems-fluent, and protocol-proficient Senior C++ Engineer to join our Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) software development cell under a permanent, full-time remote layout based out of Dublin, Ireland. In this infrastructure-critical engineering seat, you will claim end-to-end technical ownership over building, expanding, and qualifying advanced open-source network infrastructure features destined to run on the world’s largest hyperscale data center switches. Shifting completely away from non-technical text content rewriting loops, generic frontend UI canvas styling, or standard administrative spreadsheet entries, you will lead an active packet forwarding, asynchronous signaling orchestration, and low-level system daemon development laboratory. Partnering cross-functionally with system test cells, technical marketing teams, and the global open-source SONiC community, you will write structural hardware-management specifications and upstream resilient code. This position requires a systems-programming authority with 2+ years of postgraduate industry experience who designs platform features fluidly natively using Backend and systems primitives, engineers automated network test matrices, triages production switch outages, and reviews community code blocks to maintain clean, scalable infrastructure controls.

Key Responsibilities

• SONiC Feature Engineering: Design, develop, and optimize high-performance system software components for Arista routing switches natively utilizing Backend code paradigms.
• Low-Level Systems Programming: Implement highly optimized, fault-tolerant solutions inside hardware management layers and switch abstractions using C, C++, and Python scripts.
• Open-Source Upstreaming Coordination: Collaborate directly with the international SONiC open-source community to review specifications, submit code changes, and upstream verified test matrices.
• L2/L3 Routing Protocol Development: Architect, test, and debug core layer-2 and layer-3 networking components—including BGP, OSPF, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), 802.1ax Link Aggregation, and Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP).
• Packet Forwarding Optimization: Program and debug low-level packet forwarding engines (ASICs) by utilizing and manipulating vendor-provided hardware software libraries.
• Automated Test Instrumentation: Author comprehensive functional test plan specifications and build automated tracking test scripts to catch behavioral performance drift before deployment.
• Customer Network Outage Triage: Partner alongside Customer Support Engineers to analyze, isolate, and debug active routing glitches inside high-volume client networks, delivering robust software patches or releases.
• Engineering Mentorship & Planning: Mentor junior software developers to onboard them into Arista’s compilation environments, maintain weekly project schedules, and track milestones for the project lead.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Possess a formal Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. degree from an accredited institution in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a matching quantitative technical field.
• A minimum of 2+ years of proven, post-graduate professional history operating inside a C++ Software Engineer, Systems Programmer, Kernel Developer, or closely related low-level network computing capacity.
• Expert Low-Level Language Command: Deep, hands-on production history writing clean, maintainable systems code using C and C++, along with automated scripting experience via Python.
• Profound operational familiarity running, configuration-tuning, and debugging systems natively inside UNIX or Linux kernel environments.
• Strong problem-solving and software troubleshooting habits, with a demonstrated capability to design, compile, and execute structural fixes for complex memory or protocol errors without outside help.
• Location Context: Position operates under remote parameters open exclusively to qualified technical systems engineers residing permanently within or legally permitted to work from Dublin, Ireland.

Preferred Strategic Indicators (Nice to Have)

• Prior experience or direct domain software background engineering enterprise or service provider class Ethernet switch/router system software.
• Familiarity with distributed system infrastructure primitives—including asynchronous messaging fabrics, signaling controls, relational/key-value data stores, and CLI management nodes.
• Practical exposure debugging merchant silicon architectures, SDK libraries, or Broadcom/Mellanox packet forwarding mechanisms.

What We Offer

• Top-Tier European Systems Engineering Compensation: A market-competitive annual base salary calibrated precisely to your C++ systems architecture history, supplemented by global reward channels, corporate bonuses, and performance incentives.
• 100% remote workspace infrastructure freedom across Ireland, giving you maximum schedule independence from your home office setup.
• Direct Hyperscale Infrastructure Impact: Elite professional credentials built by commanding the open-source software layers that power the largest clouds and data centers on earth.
• Comprehensive health preservation benefits, protecting employees through premium localized medical, dental, and vision networks.
• Access to an award-winning workplace culture celebrating diversity, providing generous continuous training budgets, and driving rapid merit-based internal mobility tracks.