Remote Software Security Lead — AI-Driven Risk Architect

Cisco Systems, Inc.; North Carolina; Remote; USD 152,000 - 222,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Senior Software Security Lead for a fully remote role across the contiguous United States. You will be the security authority for Cisco's IT and Enterprise Operations portfolio, shaping risk-based security priorities and guiding architecture decisions.

You will influence product, engineering, and IT leadership to integrate secure design, threat modeling, and secure development practices across complex systems, including AI-enabled features.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience), plus 11+ years of experience in software/application security, secure software development, or security engineering, including a senior or lead role.
• Proven experience leading threat modeling and secure design/architecture reviews for complex software systems, including AI- and LLM-enabled features.
• Demonstrated experience interpreting SAST, DAST, and SCA results and translating findings into risk-based, evidence-backed remediation guidance, including for cloud-native applications and modern CI/CD pipelines (e.g., containers, Kubernetes).
• Validated ability to influence engineering and product leadership and drive security outcomes across teams without direct authority.

Responsibilities

• Act as the security authority for the IT and Enterprise Operations portfolio.
• Translate threat trends, architectural shifts, and security debt into priorities that IT, Enterprise Operations, product, and engineering leadership can act on.
• Advise and influence across Product Management, Engineering, IT/Enterprise Operations, and Business Information Security Officer partners, aligning security priorities with business objectives and the operational realities of our enterprise technology.
• Set the architecture bar, reviewing and approving secure designs across the portfolio, and lead threat modeling portfolio-wide.
• AI adds a new frontier, integrating AI securely into in-scope platforms and applying Software Security AI frameworks; advocate for AI capabilities that strengthen security outcomes.
• Threat-modeling and thinking like an attacker.
• Coordinate Security SMEs in areas like cryptography and identity; present prioritized unmitigated risks with clear remediation insights.
• Define and lead security engineering metrics that drive the portfolio, including risk reduction, MTTR, security debt, and developer adoption.

Skills

Threat modeling

Secure design/architecture reviews

SAST/DAST/SCA interpretation

Influence engineering/product leaders

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

Containers

CI/CD pipelines

SAST/DAST/SCA tooling

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Senior Software Security Lead for a fully remote role across the contiguous United States. You will be the security authority for Cisco's IT and Enterprise Operations portfolio, shaping risk-based security priorities and guiding architecture decisions.

You will influence product, engineering, and IT leadership to integrate secure design, threat modeling, and secure development practices across complex systems, including AI-enabled features.