Senior/Lead Software Engineer, Layer1

Job Description

Arista Networks is an industry leader in data‑driven, client‑to‑cloud networking for large data center, campus, and routing environments. Our solutions leverage the latest advancements in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and software‑defined networking to provide our clients with a competitive edge in an increasingly interconnected world. They are designed not just to meet current demands but to anticipate future challenges.

We value the diversity of thought and perspectives that each employee brings to the table and foster an inclusive environment where individuals from various backgrounds feel welcome, driving creativity and innovation.

Our commitment to excellence has earned us several prestigious awards, such as Best Engineering Team and Best Company for Diversity, Compensation, and Work‑Life Balance. We take pride in our track record of success and strive to maintain the highest standards of quality and performance in everything we do.

Who You’ll Work With

As a Layer1 software engineer you will develop software that manages the physical layer, ensuring packets meet the outside world. Your challenge is stable and reliable physical connectivity. You’ll write control software for devices ranging from 1GBASE‑T connectors to 1.6T long‑reach optics, support diverse forwarding engines, gearboxes, and interface chips, and build instrumentation and telemetry tools to monitor link health. You will also work closely with our Optics teams to define standards for new media and bring them to market.

Layer1 is the primary focus, but the role covers all aspects of software development—from adding new features, debugging, and fine‑tuning code for scalability and performance. You will own projects from definition to deployment, customer interactions, and be responsible for the quality of everything you deliver.

Over time, as your interests evolve and business needs change, you may switch from Layer1 to other areas if interested.

What You’ll Do

• Interface with customers, product management and hardware engineers to design innovative new Layer1 features.
• Architect, design and manage development of these features.
• Develop and maintain features using C, C++ and Python, review and contribute to functional and design specifications, build automated tests and test infrastructure.
• Work with hardware and manufacturing teams to bring new Layer1 components such as PHYs and transceivers to market.
• Collaborate with hardware engineers to design optimal software‑control interfaces for managing Layer1 components.
• Provide technical leadership across features, projects and tools.
• Work with Customer Support Engineers and customers to analyze, mitigate and fix problems in customer networks.
• Work with the System Test Engineers to analyze problems found in their tests and provide fixes.
• Mentor new and junior engineers in the Arista software development environment.

Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science/Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering + 8 years experience, or MS + 6 years experience, or Ph.D. + 3 years experience, or equivalent.
• Expert knowledge of C or C++ and Python.
• Knowledge of UNIX or Linux.
• Knowledge of digital communication technologies like modulation and signal encoding schemes is a plus.
• Understanding of IP networking and/or distributed systems is a plus.
• Experience working with low‑level hardware components is a plus.
• Applied understanding of software engineering principles.
• Strong problem‑solving and software troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to design a solution and implement features independently.
• Ability to work in small teams.

Additional Information

The new hire base pay for this role has a pay range of $120,000 to $195,000 across Canada. Arista offers different pay ranges based on work location to provide consistent and competitive pay appropriate to the market. The actual base pay offered will be based on a wide range of factors, including skills, qualifications, relevant experience, and work location.

The pay range reflects base pay only. Certain roles may also be eligible for discretionary Arista bonuses and equity. Employees are entitled to benefits including medical, dental, vision, wellbeing, income protection and a group retirement savings plan.