Senior Staff Engineer, Agentic Identity & AI Security

Cisco Systems, Inc; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 214,000 - 356,000; 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‑prem, and hybrid architectures. You will drive technical strategy from concept to production, translating complex identity challenges into enterprise-grade software that secures next‑gen AI systems.

You will architect scalable IAM frameworks, deliver developer tooling and APIs, and mentor engineers while partnering with Security, AI Platform, and Product teams to ensure

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience with a technical degree OR 8+ years with a Master’s in a related field.
• 10+ years of experience designing and building distributed systems, backend services, or security platforms in production.
• 5+ years of enterprise identity, authentication, or access protocols (OAuth 2.0/2.1, OIDC, SAML, SCIM, LDAP, SPIFFE, or mTLS).
• 4+ years of containerization (Docker, containerd, or Kubernetes) and at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• 3+ years of security engineering principles, including threat modeling and security architecture reviews.

Responsibilities

• Architect and define core identity capabilities for AI agents across cloud, on-prem, and hybrid architectures.
• Lead design reviews and set engineering standards for non-human identity.
• Deliver MVPs and prototype scalable production services for identity and security challenges.
• Develop APIs, SDKs, CLI tools, and MCP-based access patterns for cross-team adoption.
• Collaborate with Security, AI Platform, Product, and Cloud Operations to align identity architecture with customer needs.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Backend services

Security platforms

Identity standards

OAuth 2.0

OIDC

SAML

SCIM

LDAP

SPIFFE / mTLS

Docker

Kubernetes

Model Context Protocol

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering or related field

Master’s degree

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc is seeking a Technical Leader to define and build core identity capabilities for AI agents across cloud, on‑prem, and hybrid architectures. You will drive technical strategy from concept to production, translating complex identity challenges into enterprise-grade software that secures next‑gen AI systems.

You will architect scalable IAM frameworks, deliver developer tooling and APIs, and mentor engineers while partnering with Security, AI Platform, and Product teams to ensure