Principal Software Engineer - Application Security & AI Trust Architecture

As a Principal Engineer leading software security, you will be a primary technical authority responsible for defining and driving the security architecture across our software platforms and services. You will bridge the gap between high-level security strategy and hands-on engineering execution, ensuring that our products are secure from the cloud to the box. You will lead cross-functional initiatives, mentor engineering team members, engage with our customers and leverage AI to revolutionize our development lifecycle and threat prevention capabilities.

Rather than focusing on perimeter network defenses or traditional compliance auditing, you will operate as a software-first security leader-collaborating with application teams to design secure-by-default software patterns, implement strict Model Context Protocol (MCP) access boundaries, enforce spec-driven security contracts, and mitigate vulnerabilities unique to autonomous agent workflows (e.g., prompt injection, indirect data exfiltration, unauthorized tool invocation).

AI & Agentic Application Security Architecture:

• 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 Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, tool registries, and external integrations.
• Mitigate emerging AI threat vectors (e.g., OWASP Top 10 for LLMs, indirect prompt injection, tool hijacking, credential harvesting, and context leakage).

Spec-Driven Security & API Protection:

• Establish spec-driven security standards across application contracts (OpenAPI, TypeSpec, gRPC/Protobuf), embedding authentication schemes, data sanitization, and authorization scopes directly into machine-readable specs.
• Implement automated security contract testing and static/dynamic schema validation to detect authorization bypasses, Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA), and injection vulnerabilities prior to deployment.

Threat Modeling & Secure-by-Design Engineering:

• 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.

DevSecOps & Software Supply Chain Integrity:

• Architect and scale automated security gates in CI/CD pipelines (SAST, DAST, IAST, software composition analysis, container image signing, and SBOM tracking).
• Define policy-as-code (e.g., OPA/Rego, Cedar) frameworks to enforce deterministic security baselines across service deployments.

Technical Direction, Governance & Incident Leadership:

• 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.

• 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 in 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., * Experience with 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 (e.g., CISSP, CSSLP, CCSP, or AWS Certified Security).
• Experience evaluating and securing LLM-powered applications, tool-use execution loops, and RAG architectures.

The starting salary range posted for this position is $233,900.00 to $330,400.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position 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. 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:

$233,900.00 - $380,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$220,900.00 - $344,300.00

• 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.

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., Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.