Principal Engineer Software Security Hybrid

Cisco Systems; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 202,000 - 272,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems is seeking a Principal Engineer for AI Security to shape security standards for AI-enabled Cisco products. You will direct threat models, agent governance, and secure AI architecture across platforms, guiding teams and ensuring robust security across AI-assisted development and deployment.

This hybrid role leverages deep security expertise to manage adversarial risks, data privacy, and SDLC security gates, while collaborating with CX, Operations, Product, and SecOps to translate

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in software security with hands-on architecting and securing AI/ML-integrated systems.
• Proven ability to secure AI models and applications, including prompts, data privacy and related vulnerabilities.
• Strong background in threat modeling, SDLC, and architecture validation for large-scale ecosystems.
• Experience quantifying security risk and guiding product teams across multiple units.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a principal-level technical authority without direct reports.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the AI Security Standard including threat models, architecture patterns, and security requirements for AI-native features.
• Secure AI-Assisted Development with governance for provenance, human review, and automated SDLC/CI/CD gates.
• Architectural Leadership: lead secure AI architecture reviews and codify reusable patterns.
• Own abuse and adversarial risk including data poisoning, model inversion, and RAG compromise across models and data supply chains.
• Advance red-teaming strategies, evaluation harnesses, and release criteria for AI capabilities.
• Partner with senior engineering leadership to align security with product strategy and legal/compliance.

Skills

Python

CI/CD automation

Evaluation harnesses

Agentic workflows

Security tooling

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/29/2026

This is a hybrid role

Meet the Team

AI Security is the focal point within Software Security for ensuring Cisco's security standards keep pace as AI becomes embedded in everything the company builds. We are the security authority for AI embedded in Cisco's products: we define what secure AI looks like, validate it with evidence, and help teams get there faster - across AI-assisted development, AI embedded in our products and platforms, and AI used in Cisco's internal business operations. We're building the framework that doesn't yet exist, and scaling it across the portfolio.

Your Impact

As a Principal Engineer on the AI Security team, you will be a senior technical authority shaping the security standard for every AI capability Cisco ships — to customers, partners, and internal users alike. Your impact will include:

• Define the AI Security Standard: Author and evolve threat models, architecture patterns, and security requirements for AI-native features — RAG hardening, tool-call governance, agent identity, bounded autonomy, approval flows, audit-ability, and human accountability.

• Secure AI-Assisted Development: Set the standard for coding assistants and agent-authored code — provenance, human review, accountability, and automated SDLC/CI/CD security gates.

• Architectural Leadership: Serve as the authority on secure AI architecture across Cisco's platforms. Lead design reviews, codify reusable patterns, and define measurable release criteria.

• Adversarial & Supply Chain Risk: Own abuse and adversarial case coverage — data poisoning, model extraction, model inversion, membership inference, insecure output handling, and RAG compromise — along with model and data supply-chain provenance spanning models, datasets, plugins, fine-tuning data, and external APIs.

• Security Validation: Advance red-teaming strategy, evaluation harnesses, and release checkpoints for AI capabilities, and partner to define post-deployment standards and incident criteria for AI-specific failure modes.

• Partnership: Act as a trusted advisor to senior engineering leadership across CX, Operations, and Product. Build and maintain alignment with product security, AI platform, SecOps, privacy, and legal — translating sophisticated security requirements into business outcomes so security is seen as an accelerator, not a constraint.

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in software security, with deep, hands-on experience architecting and securing AI/ML-integrated systems — including Python, CI/CD automation, evaluation harnesses, agentic workflows, and security tooling.

• Proven ability to secure AI models and applications, including LLM- and agentic-AI-related vulnerabilities (prompt injection, excessive agency, data leakage) and data privacy concerns.

• Strong background in threat modeling, secure software development lifecycles (SDLC), and architecture validation for large-scale, multi-platform ecosystems.

• Experience quantifying security risk and providing clear, authoritative technical guidance to product managers and engineering leads across multiple teams or business units.

• Demonstrated ability to operate as a principal-level technical authority without direct reports — driving outcomes through expertise, codified standards, and influence across a large, matrixed organization.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience securing autonomous agents, tool-calling, multi-agent orchestration, and MCP-style integrations.

• Experience designing or running red-team/evaluation programs for AI systems, including adversarial testing and release-gate criteria.

• Deep understanding of AI safety, ethical AI, and global data protection regulations as they apply to cloud-based SaaS and AI-embedded offerings.

• Familiarity with emerging AI governance and risk frameworks (e.g., NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001).

• Experience building security standards or playbooks that scale through a distributed network of embedded security practitioners, rather than through direct review alone.

• Experience integrating security checkpoints into fast-paced, high-velocity CI/CD pipelines, including policy-as-code, automated security gates, agentic security workflows, and AI-assisted review and remediation loops.

• A track record of mentoring senior-level engineers and fostering a security-first culture within high-performing technical teams.

S&TO

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.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $202,100.00 to $271,700.00 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:

$233,900.00 - $380,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$220,900.00 - $344,300.00

• 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.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.

Cisco is an affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and 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.