AI Software Engineer II - (United States)

About the Team

The mission of 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. You'll thrive on dynamic and collaborative FAST and AMULET teams, working closely with a diverse network of internal and external stakeholders to drive essential security initiatives. Collaborate with teams across Cisco, including IT, Product, Customer Experience (CX), and nearly every business unit, to deliver critical security solutions.

Responsibilities

• Advance the secure adoption of artificial intelligence across testing platforms, pipelines, and processes.
• Work at the intersection of AI, security, and software engineering to develop automated security controls and validation mechanisms.
• Partner with engineering, product, and security teams to contribute to secure development practices for AI-enabled systems.
• Research emerging AI attack techniques and defensive strategies.
• Build reusable enablement resources to support the responsible deployment of AI technologies across the team and organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree with 3+ years of professional experience, or Master's degree with 1-2+ years of professional experience in relevant fields such as Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or Machine Learning.
• Foundation in security engineering (application/product security, secure SDLC, threat modeling) and/or AI/ML engineering — strong in one area with working exposure to the other.
• Proficiency in Python and experience developing scripts, automation, applications, or security tooling.
• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills with an interest in adversarial thinking, emerging technologies, and securing AI-enabled systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience securing or evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs), including prompt injection defenses, guardrails, insecure output handling, RAG, or agentic AI systems.
• Familiarity with AI security frameworks and standards such as OWASP LLM Top 10, OWASP Agentic Top 10, MITRE ATLAS, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, or the EU AI Act.
• Experience with AI security testing, red teaming, evaluation frameworks, Cisco AI Defense, NVIDIA Garak, or similar AI security tools.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, MCP, agent-to-agent integration patterns, or AI-assisted development tools.
• Demonstrated passion for security through applied projects, security tooling contributions, CTF participation, published research, or open-source contributions.
• Solid communication and organizational skills, with the ability to work successfully in a team environment.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era — and beyond. With 40 years of fearless innovation, we create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across physical and digital worlds. Our solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across their entire digital footprint. Fueled by our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions, collaborating with empathy to make a global impact.

Pay

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 ranges for this position by specific U.S. locations are:

• New York City Metro Area: $123,600.00 - $200,100.00
• Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $109,900.00 - $181,600.00

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

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave, short- and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance.
• Eligibility for grants of Cisco restricted stock units, vesting over time.
• Paid time off:
  • 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.
  • 4 paid days off for personal wellness.
  • Non-exempt employees: 16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year (accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period).
  • Exempt employees: Flexible vacation time off with no defined limit (subject to business availability).
  • 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, with up to 80 hours carried forward annually.
  • Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year for volunteering.
• 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, with no cap on incentive compensation for quota-based attainment above 100%.