AI Application Security Engineer

Cisco is hiring an AI Application Security Engineer for its Enterprise AI team at the Research Triangle Park, NC site. In this role, you will help build security into the Secure SDLC and strengthen the protection of GenAI applications and workloads across modern cloud and container environments.

You will work to embed security tooling into CI/CD workflows and Kubernetes, shape threat modeling and API security standards, and use secure coding and supply chain practices to improve Cisco’s overall security posture.

Key Responsibilities

• Embed security into the Secure SDLC by defining and implementing guardrails across design, development, testing, and deployment phases.
• Integrate and optimize application security tooling, including SAST, DAST, SCA, and secrets scanning, within CI/CD pipelines to proactively identify and remediate vulnerabilities.
• Lead threat modeling and secure design reviews for cloud-native and microservices-based applications.
• Drive container and Kubernetes security practices, including image hardening, vulnerability management, and runtime controls.
• Define and enforce API security standards, including authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and protection against common API threats.
• Partner with engineering teams to triage, prioritize, and remediate security findings, improving security posture and developer experience.
• Establish secure coding standards and provide guidance on common vulnerabilities such as OWASP Top 10 and related remediation best practices.
• Enhance software supply chain security through dependency management, artifact integrity, and build pipeline protections.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or a related field, with 6+ years of experience in cybersecurity or cloud security engineering.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience securing GCP, Azure, or AWS environments in production enterprise settings.
• Experience integrating security controls into CI/CD pipelines and Kubernetes environments, including container image hardening, vulnerability scanning, image signing, and runtime policy enforcement.
• Experience securing AI/ML workloads and Generative AI systems, including model, data, and inference endpoint protection.

Technologies

• SAST, DAST, SCA, secrets scanning
• CI/CD, Kubernetes
• Container image hardening, vulnerability scanning, image signing, runtime policy enforcement
• OWASP Top 10
• GCP, Azure, AWS

Compensation

• Base salary: USD 139,300 to 250,900 per year

For U.S. and/or Canada locations, the starting salary range posted for this position is $139,300.00 to $203,600.00 (projected salary range for new hires, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits). Individual pay is determined by hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training.

Applicable full salary ranges by state: New York City Metro Area: $167,700.00 to $282,000.00; Non-Metro New York state & Washington state: $149,100.00 to $250,900.00. For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, ranges provided include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined. Employees in Illinois (exempt or non-exempt) participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision insurance (U.S. employees subject to plan eligibility rules)
• 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution (U.S. employees subject to plan eligibility rules)
• Paid parental leave (U.S. employees subject to plan eligibility rules)
• Short and long-term disability coverage (U.S. employees subject to plan eligibility rules)
• Basic life insurance (U.S. employees subject to plan eligibility rules)
• Paid time away including 10 paid holidays per full calendar year plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
• 1 paid day off for an employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco
• Non-exempt employees: 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program (no defined limit, subject to availability and some business limitations)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
• Potential eligibility for Cisco restricted stock units that vest following continued employment for defined periods
• For non-sales roles, annual bonuses may be available subject to Cisco’s policies

Additional Information

• Location: Research Triangle Park, NC (onsite)
• Minimum experience: 3 years
• Preferred qualifications: Cybersecurity background and operational experience; certifications from ISC2 (e.g., CISSP, CCSP) or ISACA (e.g., SSCP, CC, CISA, CISM); experience designing and managing IAM, encryption, and network security controls
• Application window closes: 10/29/2026