Principal AI Security Architect for Applications

Cisco Systems, Inc; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 234,000 - 330,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision insurance

401(k) plan with Cisco matching

Paid parental leave

Cisco restricted stock units

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead software security architecture across our platforms and services. You will bridge high‑level security strategy with hands‑on engineering, ensuring secure product design from cloud to edge and mentoring teams across multiple domains.

You will drive secure‑by‑default patterns, model‑driven security contracts, and apply cutting‑edge AI to threat prevention and lifecycle improvements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 15+ years of experience in software engineering and application security architecture.
• Experience in OWASP Top 10, OWASP API Top 10, CWE/SANS 25, or zero‑trust patterns.
• Experience in identity and access governance (OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, mTLS, SPIFFE/SPIRE, RBAC/ABAC/ReBAC).
• Experience in at least one backend language (Python, Go, TypeScript/Node.js, Rust, or Java).
• Experience integrating security controls into cloud‑native architectures (Kubernetes, AWS/GCP/Azure).

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the security architecture across software platforms and services.
• Lead cross‑functional initiatives and mentor engineering teams.
• Engage with customers and leverage AI to improve development lifecycle and threat prevention.
• Design secure‑by‑default patterns and MCP access boundaries.
• Establish spec‑driven security standards (OpenAPI, TypeSpec, gRPC/Protobuf).
• Lead threat modeling for critical application tiers and multi‑tenant data boundaries.
• Architect and scale CI/CD security gates (SAST/DAST/IAST, SBOM, container signing).
• Mentor on defensive coding, API security standards, and zero‑trust design.

Skills

Security architecture

OWASP Top 10

OAuth 2.0 / OIDC

Backend languages

Cloud-native architectures

Threat modeling

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

OpenAPI

TypeSpec

gRPC/Protobuf

Semgrep

CodeQL

OPA/Rego

Kubernetes

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead software security architecture across our platforms and services. You will bridge high‑level security strategy with hands‑on engineering, ensuring secure product design from cloud to edge and mentoring teams across multiple domains.

You will drive secure‑by‑default patterns, model‑driven security contracts, and apply cutting‑edge AI to threat prevention and lifecycle improvements.