AI Platform Engineering Lead, Security Core AI – Agentic SOC Platform (hybrid)

This is a hybrid role, requiring some on-site work weekly in our San Jose office.

About the role

As the Software Engineering Manager of the Security Core AI team, you'll lead a sizable engineering team creating trusted AI capabilities that help security organizations detect, investigate, and respond to threats. You will combine software engineering judgment, people leadership, and cross-functional execution to deliver capabilities across cloud, on-premises, sovereign cloud, and air-gapped environments in partnership with teams across Cisco and Splunk.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a sizable team of software engineers, establishing clear expectations, accountability, and career growth.
• Translate Security Core AI strategy into practical roadmaps, staffing plans, priorities, and release-aligned execution.
• Lead delivery of shared AI capabilities for the Agentic SOC from requirements and architecture through integration, adoption, and improvement.
• Partner with security-domain teams to translate SOC, SIEM, detection, incident, investigation, and response needs into scalable engineering outcomes.
• Coordinate with product, architecture, deployment, quality, release, operations, support, and engineering partners to land capabilities end to end.
• Build strong relationships with Cisco and Splunk AI platform teams; evaluate shared technologies, drive adoption, and represent Security requirements.
• Balance near-term product commitments with convergence toward common platform, orchestration, and evaluation approaches.
• Guide delivery across cloud, on-premises, sovereign cloud, and air-gapped environments addressing residency, connectivity, deployment, upgrade, and resource constraints.
• Establish goals and metrics for delivery, AI quality, reliability, security, adoption, cost, and customer impact.
• Promote responsible use of AI tools throughout requirements, design, coding, review, testing, documentation, debugging, release, and production improvement.
• Hire, onboard, retain, and manage performance while building an inclusive, accountable, and continuously improving engineering culture.
• Coach technical leaders and senior engineers, delegate meaningful ownership, and build succession and growth paths.
• Resolve dependencies and priority conflicts, communicate trade-offs, and maintain stakeholder alignment as requirements and schedules change.
• Represent the team in planning, architecture, customer, and executive discussions.

Requirements

• Bachelors + 10 years experience, or Masters + 7 years experience, or PhD + 3 years experience; all experience to be related to role.
• 4+ years of technical leadership or management experience in a software engineering or SOC environment.
• Experience delivering and maintaining software in public cloud (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and/or on-premises or air-gapped environment.
• Experience delivering large-scale distributed systems, AI platforms, or data-intensive services.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of AI and agentic-systems with the ability to guide technical decisions, quality expectations, risk management, and delivery.
• Experience with SIEM, SOAR, threat detection, and/or incident response technologies and/or workflows.
• Experience executing through complex partner relationships and adopting shared technologies across large organizations; Cisco or Splunk or experience with similar SIEM technologies is valued.
• Proven success scaling engineering practices, using AI-assisted development responsibly, mentoring technical leaders, and building high-performing teams.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance.
• Restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.
• Paid time away:
  • 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.
  • 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, with no defined limit on vacation time (subject to availability and business limitations).
  • 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, with up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward.
  • Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues.
  • Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.
• Annual bonuses for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco’s policies.
• For sales roles, performance-based incentive pay split between quota and non-quota components.

Pay

The starting salary range for this position is $214,100.00 to $309,800.00 for new hires in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training.

Full salary ranges by location:

• New York City Metro Area: $214,100.00 - $356,300.00
• Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $192,400.00 - $317,200.00

For quota-based sales roles, the ranges include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.