Senior GRC Engineer - EMEA

Cisco Systems, Inc; Madrid; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Isovalent, now part of Cisco, seeks a senior Security Officer / GRC Engineer to guide security, governance, risk, and compliance for Hypershield. You’ll work with Engineering, Architecture, Product, SRE, Compliance, and Cisco’s Security and Trust Organization to meet regulatory requirements while enabling rapid, secure delivery.

You will assess security impact, guide remediation, and contribute to automation, hardening, and evidence collection across delivery workflows.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of hands-on experience implementing security and compliance automation, hardening, vulnerability remediation, secure delivery improvements, or related DevSecOps capabilities.
• 3+ years’ experience conducting security reviews, architecture reviews, threat or risk assessments, and translating findings into practical guidance and remediation plans.
• Experience with security frameworks and compliance audits such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, or GDPR-related requirements.
• Experience with corporate security mandates, secure development lifecycle requirements, product security standards, and audit processes.

Responsibilities

• Assess and guide improvements to the security posture of Hypershield components and delivery workflows.
• Interpret Cisco-level security mandates, policies and audit requirements into clear guidance and remediation priorities.
• Partner with development teams and security teams to review features and designs for security gaps and mitigations.
• Support compliance with Build Environment Security requirements and evidence needs.
• Define and contribute to security and compliance automation, reporting, and tooling.

Skills

Security automation

DevSecOps

Vulnerability remediation

Hardening

Policy compliance

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

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 cloud native infrastructure. The flagship technologies, Cilium and Tetragon, are the choice of numerous, industry-leading, global organizations. New solutions such as Hypershield or Live Protect have been built on top of these technologies. Our SaaS and on-premises offerings depend on secure, reliable automation that enables engineering teams to build test, release and operate software at scale.

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

We are looking for an expert Security Officer / GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) Engineer to provide senior security guidance and hands‑on engineering contributions within the Hypershield solution. This role partners closely with Engineering, Architecture, Product Management, SRE, Compliance, Cisco’s Security and Trust Organization (STO), and leadership teams to help Isovalent meet security, privacy, corporate and regulatory requirements while enabling rapid and secure product delivery.

In this role, you will be a senior security partner for Hypershield. You will assess security impact, clarify requirements, prioritize risk, guide remediation, and contribute to security automation, hardening, and remediation work. Typical responsibilities include:

• Assess and guide improvements to the security posture of Hypershield components and delivery workflows

• Interpret Cisco‑level security mandates, policies, audit requirements, release gates, and security best practices into clear guidance, control expectations, acceptance criteria, and remediation priorities

• Partner with development teams, architects, product management, SRE, compliance, and central security and data privacy teams to review new features, architecture changes and security‑sensitive designs, identifying gaps, recommending mitigations, and helping teams balance security, usability, and delivery needs

• Support compliance with Cisco security mandates and Build Environment Security requirements by clarifying requirements, identifying evidence needs, reviewing audit findings, and guiding remediation priorities

• Define and contribute to implementation of security and compliance automation, reporting, and tooling that improve visibility, reduce manual work, and help teams follow security requirements consistently

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of hands‑on experience implementing security and compliance automation, hardening, vulnerability remediation, secure delivery improvements, or related DevSecOps capabilities

• 3+ years’ experience conducting security reviews, architecture reviews, threat or risk assessments, and translating findings into practical guidance and remediation plans (e.g. to comply with SOC2, ISO or other certification frameworks)

• Experience working with corporate security mandates, secure development lifecycle requirements, product security standards, compliance requirements, or security audit processes

• Experience with security frameworks and compliance audits such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, or similar frameworks, privacy regulations and data protection requirements such as GDPR or similar standards

Preferred Qualifications:

• Build and maintain Compliance‑as‑Code capabilities — policy‑as‑code, automated control validation, continuous evidence collection, and monitoring integrated into CI/CD — so audit and supervisory readiness scales with the business rather than depending on manual, point‑in‑time checks.

• Relevant security certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CCSP, or similar

• Experience with different certification frameworks (e.g. FedRAMP; CRA is a bonus).

• Experience with Cisco security mandates, policies, tooling, or product security processes

• Strong written and verbal communication skills to facilitate the explanation of security risk, requirements, priorities, and tradeoffs to both technical and non‑technical team members

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.

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.

Cisco is an Aff… but 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.