Principal AI Security Engineer

Cisco Systems, Inc; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 202,000 - 272,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

401(k) plan

Parental leave

Disability coverage

Life insurance

Paid vacation

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Principal Engineer for the AI Security Team to shape the security standard for AI across Cisco’s portfolio.

You will serve as a technical authority, defining threat models, secure AI architectures, and evaluation gates for AI-enabled features, and you will partner with product, platform, and SecOps teams to translate security requirements into scalable, business-ready solutions.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software security with hands-on AI/ML integration
• Proven ability to secure AI models, including LLM/agentic AI vulnerabilities
• Strong background in threat modeling and SDLC for large ecosystems
• Experience guiding product managers and engineering leads across teams
• Ability to operate as a principal-level technical authority without direct reports

Responsibilities

• Define the AI Security Standard: threat models, architecture patterns, and security requirements for AI-native features.
• Secure AI-Assisted Development: governance for provenance, human review, and secure SDLC gates.
• Architectural Leadership: lead secure AI architecture reviews and codify reusable patterns.
• Adversarial & Supply Chain Risk: own data poisoning and model-provenance concerns across models and data.
• Security Validation: advance red-teaming strategies and release checkpoints for AI capabilities.
• Partnership: advise senior engineering leadership and align security with product and privacy teams.

Skills

AI/ML security

Threat modeling

Secure SDLC

Python

CI/CD automation

Security tooling

Architectural leadership

Tools

CI/CD tools

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Principal Engineer for the AI Security Team to shape the security standard for AI across Cisco’s portfolio.

You will serve as a technical authority, defining threat models, secure AI architectures, and evaluation gates for AI-enabled features, and you will partner with product, platform, and SecOps teams to translate security requirements into scalable, business-ready solutions.