Principal Software Engineer — Application Security & AI Trust Architecture

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will lead Cisco’s software security and AI trust architecture across platforms and services. The role focuses on defining security architecture, translating strategy into engineering execution, and driving secure-by-default, spec-driven security from cloud to edge.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive security architecture across software platforms and services.
• Bridge high-level security strategy with hands-on engineering execution to keep products secure from the cloud to the box.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives and mentor engineering team members.
• Engage with customers and use AI to improve the development lifecycle and strengthen threat prevention capabilities.
• Collaborate with application teams to develop secure-by-default software patterns.
• Implement strict Model Context Protocol (MCP) access boundaries.
• Enforce spec-driven security contracts.
• Mitigate vulnerabilities specific to autonomous agent workflows, including prompt injection, indirect data exfiltration, and unauthorized tool invocation.
• Design trust boundaries, sandboxing models, and execution guardrails for autonomous application agents and LLM tool-calling workflows.
• Architect granular authentication, authorization, and least-privilege scoping for MCP servers, tool registries, and external integrations.
• Mitigate emerging AI threat vectors, including OWASP Top 10 for LLMs, indirect prompt injection, tool hijacking, credential harvesting, and context leakage.
• Establish spec-driven security standards across application contracts (OpenAPI, TypeSpec, gRPC/Protobuf) by embedding authentication schemes, data sanitization, and authorization scopes into machine-readable specs.
• Implement automated security contract testing and static or dynamic schema validation to detect authorization bypasses, Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA), and injection vulnerabilities prior to deployment.
• Lead comprehensive architectural threat modeling for critical application tiers, distributed business logic, and multi-tenant data boundaries.
• Create reusable, hardened software design patterns, cryptographic utilities, and session management frameworks for application engineering teams.
• Architect and scale automated security gates in CI/CD pipelines, including SAST, DAST, IAST, software composition analysis, container image signing, and SBOM tracking.
• Define policy-as-code frameworks such as OPA/Rego and Cedar to enforce deterministic security baselines across service deployments.
• Serve as the principal technical escalation point for complex application security architecture reviews and critical vulnerability disclosures.
• Mentor senior software engineers on defensive coding practices, modern API security standards, and zero-trust application design.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 15+ years of experience in software engineering and application security architecture, including designing, securing, and operating distributed applications.
• Experience with application security frameworks such as OWASP Top 10, OWASP API Top 10, CWE/SANS 25, or zero-trust application patterns.
• Experience in identity and access governance including one or more of OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, mTLS, SPIFFE/SPIRE, or fine-grained authorization models (RBAC, ABAC, ReBAC).
• Experience in at least one backend language: Python, Go, TypeScript/Node.js, Rust, or Java.
• Experience integrating security controls into cloud-native architectures such as Kubernetes, AWS/GCP/Azure, API gateways, or service meshes.

Technologies

• Model Context Protocol (MCP), LLM tool-calling workflows
• OpenAPI, TypeSpec, gRPC/Protobuf
• Open Policy Agent (OPA), Rego, Cedar
• OWASP Top 10, OWASP API Top 10, OWASP Top 10 for LLMs, CWE/SANS 25
• OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, mTLS, SPIFFE/SPIRE
• RBAC, ABAC, ReBAC
• Python, Go, TypeScript/Node.js, Rust, Java
• Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Azure, API gateways, service meshes
• SAST, DAST, IAST, software composition analysis
• Container image signing, SBOM tracking
• OPA/Rego, Semgrep, CodeQL, CVE

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with the security implications of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) or similar AI tool-invocation interfaces.
• Experience writing policy-as-code engines (Open Policy Agent, AWS Cedar, Oso/Polar) or custom linter/SAST rules (Semgrep, CodeQL).
• Active involvement in application security research, CVE publications, open-source security tooling, or industry working groups (OWASP, CNCF Security, OASIS).
• Relevant security certifications (for example, CISSP, CSSLP, CCSP, or AWS Certified Security).
• Experience evaluating and securing LLM-powered applications, tool-use execution loops, and RAG architectures.

Compensation and Location

• Location: San Jose, CA (onsite)
• Salary: USD 220,900 - 380,000 per year
• Minimum Experience: 15 years

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
• Paid parental leave
• Short and long-term disability coverage
• Basic life insurance
• Grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time
• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year
• 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday
• Paid year-end holiday shutdown
• 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 of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to 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

Application Window

The application window is expected to close on: 10/30/2026.