OPT Backend Software Engineer Jobs
Backend Software Engineer roles are among the most common OPT-sponsored positions in the U.S., with employers regularly filing H-1B visa and E-3 visa petitions for engineers in this field. Your 12-month OPT window, extendable to 36 months with a STEM extension, gives you a realistic runway to secure sponsorship.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Meet the team
We are a dynamic, high-velocity engineering team dedicated to building Splunk’s industry-leading Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and full-stack observability platforms. Our work empowers global enterprises to visualize, tackle, and optimize complex cloud-native architectures in real time, serving as a vital pillar in Cisco and Splunk’s unified Observability and Cloud Operations strategy! We champion a collaborative, highly technical, and encouraging culture where engineers thrive under leadership that actively champions mentorship and long-term career growth! What makes our team especially exciting is our forward-thinking integration with Splunk's powerful data ecosystem, alongside modern AI tooling, sub-agents, and automated developer workflows deeply embedded into our daily software delivery.
YOUR IMPACT
As a Full Stack Software Engineer, you will develop, build, and ship end-to-end features and bug fixes across our high-scale Java backend microservices and modern React frontend applications.
- Participate in scheduled on-call rotations (3 rotations/year) to proactively diagnose, solve, and resolve APM backend issues and customer escalations.
- Develop and deploy robust, high-performance features across Java backend services and React user interfaces to provide flawless observability experiences for our customers.
- Leverage AI-assisted development practices, sub-agents, and automated workflows to increase code velocity, maintain token efficiency, and tackle technical challenges faster.
- Partner closely with Product Owners, Technical Owners, and UX designers to translate complex observability requirements into scalable, intuitive technical solutions.
- Author clear technical documentation, participate in constructive code reviews, and contribute innovative system design ideas to continuously elevate team standards.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Meet one of the following (completed within the past 3 years or expected to be completed within the next 12 months):
- A Bachelor's degree with 0 years of work experience; or
- An educational or workforce development program (e.g., Associate’s, Apprenticeship, Boot camp, or Certification) with 1 year of work experience; or
- High school diploma (or equivalent) with 2 years of work experience.
- Qualifying education and work experience should be in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline.
- Demonstrated experience developing backend services and applications using Java (or Python / Go).
- Hands-on experience building interactive web applications and user interfaces using React (or modern JavaScript/TypeScript frameworks).
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Hands-on experience demonstrating modern AI-assisted development tools, Model Context Protocols (MCPs), or developer sub-agents to streamline software workflows and automation.
- Prior exposure to Splunk Observability Cloud, Application Performance Monitoring (APM), distributed tracing, cloud telemetry, or metrics platforms.
- Practical experience designing data stores (SQL and NoSQL), integrating RESTful or GraphQL APIs, and deploying containerized services in Kubernetes (K8s).
- Familiarity with frontend visualization libraries (such as D3.js) and building complex, high-performance interactive dashboards.
- Strong analytical problem-solving and communication skills, with a track record of effective cross-functional collaboration across Product and UX teams, paired with a drive for full-stack career growth.
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.
COMPENSATION
The starting salary range posted for this position is $84,600.00 to $113,600.00 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:
$107,800.00 - $157,400.00
Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$94,800.00 - $140,000.00
- 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.
Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:
Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.
INTRODUCTION
Meet the team
We are a dynamic, high-velocity engineering team dedicated to building Splunk’s industry-leading Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and full-stack observability platforms. Our work empowers global enterprises to visualize, tackle, and optimize complex cloud-native architectures in real time, serving as a vital pillar in Cisco and Splunk’s unified Observability and Cloud Operations strategy! We champion a collaborative, highly technical, and encouraging culture where engineers thrive under leadership that actively champions mentorship and long-term career growth! What makes our team especially exciting is our forward-thinking integration with Splunk's powerful data ecosystem, alongside modern AI tooling, sub-agents, and automated developer workflows deeply embedded into our daily software delivery.
YOUR IMPACT
As a Full Stack Software Engineer, you will develop, build, and ship end-to-end features and bug fixes across our high-scale Java backend microservices and modern React frontend applications.
- Participate in scheduled on-call rotations (3 rotations/year) to proactively diagnose, solve, and resolve APM backend issues and customer escalations.
- Develop and deploy robust, high-performance features across Java backend services and React user interfaces to provide flawless observability experiences for our customers.
- Leverage AI-assisted development practices, sub-agents, and automated workflows to increase code velocity, maintain token efficiency, and tackle technical challenges faster.
- Partner closely with Product Owners, Technical Owners, and UX designers to translate complex observability requirements into scalable, intuitive technical solutions.
- Author clear technical documentation, participate in constructive code reviews, and contribute innovative system design ideas to continuously elevate team standards.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Meet one of the following (completed within the past 3 years or expected to be completed within the next 12 months):
- A Bachelor's degree with 0 years of work experience; or
- An educational or workforce development program (e.g., Associate’s, Apprenticeship, Boot camp, or Certification) with 1 year of work experience; or
- High school diploma (or equivalent) with 2 years of work experience.
- Qualifying education and work experience should be in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline.
- Demonstrated experience developing backend services and applications using Java (or Python / Go).
- Hands-on experience building interactive web applications and user interfaces using React (or modern JavaScript/TypeScript frameworks).
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Hands-on experience demonstrating modern AI-assisted development tools, Model Context Protocols (MCPs), or developer sub-agents to streamline software workflows and automation.
- Prior exposure to Splunk Observability Cloud, Application Performance Monitoring (APM), distributed tracing, cloud telemetry, or metrics platforms.
- Practical experience designing data stores (SQL and NoSQL), integrating RESTful or GraphQL APIs, and deploying containerized services in Kubernetes (K8s).
- Familiarity with frontend visualization libraries (such as D3.js) and building complex, high-performance interactive dashboards.
- Strong analytical problem-solving and communication skills, with a track record of effective cross-functional collaboration across Product and UX teams, paired with a drive for full-stack career growth.
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.
COMPENSATION
The starting salary range posted for this position is $84,600.00 to $113,600.00 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:
$107,800.00 - $157,400.00
Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$94,800.00 - $140,000.00
- 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.
Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:
Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.
See all 49+ OPT Backend Software Engineer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Backend Software Engineer Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as a Backend Software Engineer
Target companies with a STEM OPT track record
Look for employers who have previously filed H-1B visa petitions for backend engineers. Consistent filing history signals they understand the sponsorship process and are willing to invest in foreign national employees long-term.
Apply before your OPT start date when possible
Many backend engineering roles have long hiring cycles including technical screens, system design rounds, and offer negotiations. Starting your job search two to three months early gives you buffer before your authorization begins.
Highlight cloud and distributed systems experience
Employers sponsoring backend engineers want specialized skills, not generalists. Expertise in Kubernetes, AWS, or event-driven architectures strengthens your case that your role qualifies as a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes.
Confirm your role qualifies for the STEM OPT extension
Backend Software Engineer roles typically fall under CIP code 11.0701 (Computer Science) or similar STEM codes. Verify your degree's CIP code with your DSO before accepting an offer to confirm you qualify for the 24-month extension.
Get your I-983 training plan signed early
For STEM OPT, your employer must sign a formal training plan with your DSO before the extension is approved. Raise this with HR during onboarding, not after your initial OPT expires, to avoid any gap in work authorization.
Focus applications on Series B and later startups and large tech employers
These companies have established legal and HR infrastructure to handle visa sponsorship. Early-stage startups often lack the resources or stability required to commit to a multi-year sponsorship timeline for backend engineering hires.
Backend Software Engineer OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Do Backend Software Engineer jobs typically qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
Yes, backend software engineering roles almost always qualify. The role must be directly related to your STEM degree, which for most backend engineers means a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field. Your employer must also be enrolled in E-Verify. Confirm your degree's CIP code with your Designated School Official before applying for the extension.
How do I find Backend Software Engineer jobs that sponsor OPT and H-1B?
Migrate Mate is built specifically for this. You can filter Backend Software Engineer roles by employers who have a sponsorship history, so you're not wasting applications on companies that won't hire on OPT. Generic job boards don't surface visa sponsorship data, which makes it easy to apply to roles where you'd be disqualified before the first interview.
Can I work as a backend engineer for a client site or through a staffing agency on OPT?
Yes, but with important caveats for STEM OPT. Third-party placement arrangements are allowed only if your employer of record, not the end client, signs your I-983 training plan and supervises your work. USCIS has scrutinized staffing agency arrangements, so the relationship must be a genuine employer-employee setup with active oversight from the sponsoring company.
What happens to my OPT if I'm laid off from a Backend Software Engineer role?
You enter a 60-day grace period starting on your last day of employment. During that window, you can search for a new backend engineering role, transfer to a different visa status, or prepare to depart the U.S. If you're on STEM OPT, the same 60-day rule applies. Report any change in employment to your DSO immediately, as failing to do so can jeopardize your status.
Does a Backend Software Engineer role at a remote-first company count as valid OPT employment?
Yes. Remote work is valid OPT employment as long as the employer is a U.S.-based company and you're authorized to work in the U.S. For STEM OPT, your I-983 must accurately reflect your remote work arrangement, including how your employer will supervise your training. Update your DSO if your work location changes significantly during your authorization period.