Job Description

Please note this posting is to advertise potential job opportunities. This exact role may not be open today but could open in the near future. When you apply, a Cisco representative may contact you directly if a relevant position opens.

Meet the Team

The mission of the Security & Trust Organization (S&TO) is to secure products and services, protect Cisco and its employees, and cultivate trust with our customers, partners, and regulators.

Join a dynamic and collaborative team focused on securing the software delivery lifecycle through innovative CI/CD pipeline design and enhancement. This team operates at the intersection of security, automation, and AI-enabled DevSecOps, partnering closely with software engineering and platform teams to deliver secure, scalable, and efficient software delivery solutions. The team values technical leadership, continuous improvement, and a culture of collaboration to drive impactful security outcomes across Cisco's engineering organizations.

Your Impact

An early-career Security Engineer supports applied security research and engineering that advances how AI is built and used securely across Cisco. Under guidance, you’ll perform routine security assignments, run defined tests and experiments, contribute to basic security tooling, and document evidence and findings. Additionally, you’ll apply established Cisco Secure Development Lifecycle, security, and responsible-AI practices to help engineering teams identify and reduce risk.

• Executes routine, well-defined security engineering assignments using established practices and procedures with detailed guidance.
• Supports vulnerability and risk assessments, security code reviews, validation testing, remediation, and security-hardening activities.
• Assists with threat models for AI-native features such as RAG, tool use, agentic workflows, and MCP integrations, including prompt injection, data poisoning, excessive agency, and supply-chain risks.
• Runs defined adversarial tests and evaluations, records evidence and results, and escalates complex or unexpected findings.
• Contributes basic Python tooling, evaluation cases, guardrails, and automated security checks under review, including integration into Secure Development Lifecycle and CI/CD workflows.
• Supports data-protection and human-oversight controls for AI systems, including sensitive-data handling, review, approval, and accountability.
• Contributes to threat research, reusable patterns, and technical write-ups; communicates findings and participates in security design reviews and incident-response activities.

Minimum Qualifications:

• A Bachelor's degree (completed within the past 3 years or expected to be completed within the next 12 months).
• Qualifying education and work experience should be in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Foundational knowledge of security engineering, software development, AI/ML, or applied research gained through education, internships, projects, or equivalent practical work.
• Working knowledge of Python and the ability to develop and test basic scripts.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Varies based on team and business needs; in addition to Minimum Qualifications.
• Coursework, projects, or a portfolio demonstrating applied experience in software, product, or AI/ML security.
• Familiarity with secure software development, vulnerability management, threat modeling, adversarial testing, or AI security evaluations.
• Familiarity with LLM security risks and frameworks, including prompt injection, RAG and agentic-system risks, OWASP LLM/Agentic Top 10, MITRE ATLAS, or NIST AI RMF.
• Exposure to AI red-team or evaluation tooling, such as Cisco AI Defense or NVIDIA's Garak, and related CI/CD, MCP, or AI development workflows.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include 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. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 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** 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.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;
• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;
• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$107,800.00 - $157,400.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$94,800.00 - $140,000.00

• For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.