Security Engineer

Cisco Systems, Inc; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a senior security engineer in San Francisco to shape how Cisco designs, reviews, and verifies security in its network device portfolio. You will create threat models, review architectures, and ensure secure patterns across hardware, firmware, and software.

The role requires strong experience in threat modeling, embedded device security, and coordination across global teams, leveraging MITRE/OWASP guidance and CI/CD tooling.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or engineering; 7+ years of related experience, or a master's with 4 years, or a PhD with 1 year.
• Experience delivering threat models, security reviews, and reusable controls, with test cases and reproducible evidence.
• Experience assessing security of embedded or IoT network devices across hardware, firmware, and lifecycle, incl. code review and tooling.

Responsibilities

• Create threat models and review device architectures and code to find weaknesses.
• Test security claims after implementation with reproducible evidence.
• Collaborate with engineers across functions, cultures, and geographies to improve security delivery.

Skills

Threat modeling

Security reviews

C/C++ code review

Python scripting

MITRE/OWASP frameworks

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

C/C++

Python

Security tooling

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/09/2026

NOTE: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

Join Cisco's Network Device Security Organization to help protect more than 50 million live network devices! Our portfolio includes routers, switches, access points, wireless LAN controllers, campus gateways, industrial IoT devices, cameras, and sensors. These products help power the world's internet, from autonomous on-premises systems to cloud-managed networks. We bring engineers together to turn security research into practical protections that customers can trust. Work across hardware, firmware, and software, with opportunities to learn, share ideas, and expand security delivery through AI.

Your Impact

Help shape how Cisco designs, reviews, and verifies security across its network device portfolio. Create threat models and review device architectures and code to find weaknesses at their root. Translate recurring weakness classes into secure patterns and reusable engineering controls. Test security claims after implementation, using reproducible evidence to show what works and where gaps remain. Collaborate with engineers across functions, cultures, and geographies in an organization spanning thousands of people, using AI-enabled workflows to improve security delivery.

Minimum Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field with 7 years of related experience; a master's with 4 years; or a PhD with 1 year, preferably complemented by CSSLP certification.
• Experience delivering threat models, security reviews, and reusable controls or patterns, with test cases and reproducible evidence that verify implemented behavior.
• Experience assessing and improving the security of embedded or IoT network devices across hardware, firmware, and the device lifecycle, including C/C++ code review, device security testing, and security tooling in Python or a comparable language.
• Experience using CWE hardware and software weakness hierarchies to identify root causes and recurring patterns, and applying MITRE EMB3D, OWASP IoT guidance, or comparable device-security frameworks to threat modeling and remediation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience collaborating with engineers across functions, cultures, and geographies in large matrix organizations through clear communication of security findings and technical tradeoffs, mentoring, and coordinated delivery.
• Experience applying systems thinking and risk exposure to prioritize security work, align claims with evidence, and guide escalations that support high-quality delivery and customer outcomes.
• Experience building agentic workflows that integrate models, tools, and engineering data, with evaluations, human review, protected inputs, and improvements as model capabilities change.
• Experience developing static-analysis rules, secure APIs or wrappers, or CI/CD guardrails, and evaluating their precision, coverage, and adoption across multiple repositories or product families.

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 $167,700.00 to $245,200.00 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 ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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:

$167,700.00 - $282,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$149,100.00 - $250,900.00

* 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.