AI Application Security Engineer

Cisco’s Enterprise AI team is hiring an AI Application Security Engineer for an onsite role in the Research Triangle Park, NC area. In this position, you will help embed security throughout the Secure SDLC and strengthen the protection of GenAI applications and workloads, including the cloud-native environments and pipelines that support them.

You will work across the software lifecycle, connecting security tooling to CI/CD and Kubernetes practices, guiding threat modeling and API security standards, and improving software supply chain protections. The role also emphasizes secure coding guidance aligned to common risk areas such as OWASP Top 10.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and implement guardrails to embed security into the Secure SDLC 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 identify and remediate vulnerabilities early.
• 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 such as authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and protections against common API threats.
• Partner with engineering teams to triage, prioritize, and remediate security findings while improving security posture and the developer experience.
• Establish secure coding standards and provide guidance on common vulnerabilities (for example, OWASP Top 10) and 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 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

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 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 rate of 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 from one calendar year to the next
• 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
• Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time
• For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies

Additional Details

• Location: Research Triangle Park, NC (onsite)
• Salary: USD 139,300 - 250,900 per year
• Expected application close date: 10/29/2026

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

U.S. and/or Canada Applicant Notice

• The starting salary range posted is $139,300.00 to $203,600.00 (projected salary range for new hires in U.S. and/or Canada locations, 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.
• U.S. employees are offered benefits subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules including 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.
• Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units that vest following continued employment for defined periods.

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 and Washington state: $149,100.00 - $250,900.00. Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.