Senior Staff Engineer, Agentic Identity & AI Security

Cisco Systems, Inc; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 214,000 - 310,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Technical Leader to define and build core identity capabilities for AI agents across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid architectures. You will lead strategy from concept to production and mentor engineers shaping secure, scalable services.

The role focuses on designing token exchange, credential brokering, and workload identity, while delivering tooling, APIs, and model-context-based access patterns for platform teams.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience in distributed systems.
• Experience implementing enterprise identity, authentication, or access protocols.
• 4+ years with containerization and at least one major cloud platform.

Responsibilities

• Architect scalable identity and access management for AI agents.
• Lead architectural direction and code reviews for non-human identity.
• Deliver production MVPs and iterate to scalable services.
• Collaborate with Security, AI Platform, Product, and Cloud Operations teams.
• Mentor engineering talent and drive engineering standards.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Identity protocols

Security engineering

Go/C/C++/Java

Cloud architecture

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/CE/EE or related field

Master’s degree with 8+ years experience

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS/Azure/GCP

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a Technical Leader to define and build core identity capabilities for AI agents across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid architectures. You will lead strategy from concept to production and mentor engineers shaping secure, scalable services.

The role focuses on designing token exchange, credential brokering, and workload identity, while delivering tooling, APIs, and model-context-based access patterns for platform teams.