AI Software Engineer II - (United States)

the opportunity to collaborate with teams across Cisco, including IT, Product, Customer Experience (CX), and nearly every business unit, to deliver critical security solutions.

As an AI Security Engineer II, you will help advance the secure adoption of artificial intelligence across testing platforms, pipelines, and processes. Working at the intersection of AI, security, and software engineering, you will partner with engineering, product, and security teams to develop automated security controls and validation mechanisms, and contribute to secure development practices for AI-enabled systems.

You will also research emerging AI attack techniques and defensive strategies, help build reusable enablement resources to support the responsible deployment of AI technologies across the team and the larger organization.

- Bachelor's with 3+ years of professional experience , Master's degree with 1-2+years of professional experience in relevant fields include: 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 with demonstrated adversarial thinking.

- 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.

- 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 communications and organizational skills, and ability to work successfully in a team environment .

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 on Cisco's sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.