Job Description
The application window is expected to close on: 04/30/2026
Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Meet the Team
As a Principal AI Security Architect, you will join a specialized team within Security and Trust Organization serving as the senior software security technical advisor for Cisco’s Customer Experience (CX) organization. We act as partners, to the business, embedding ourselves directly into product management and software development cycles. Our mission is to ensure the secure design, development, and delivery of Cisco’s most critical platforms, including the Cisco IQ ecosystem. We work with our product management and engineering counterparts, providing the technical authority and architectural guidance necessary to accelerate innovation while maintaining a robust security and risk posture.
Your Impact
In this role, you will provide expert technical leadership to product, platform, and offer teams, ensuring that software development and AI functionality is integrated securely from inception to delivery.
Your Impact Will Include
• Strategic AI Guardrails: Define and implement security guardrails for AI-embedded applications. You will proactively address risks such as prompt injection, data leakage, privacy violations, and unauthorized cross-customer data access.
• Architectural Leadership: Serve as the authority on secure cloud architecture within AWS and Azure environments. Review complex designs to ensure they meet Cisco’s security standards before they reach the market.
• Risk-Based Decision Making: Evaluate the security risk of new releases (Critical, High, Medium, Low) and provide actionable, technical remediation paths to product teams, helping them ship securely without sacrificing speed.
• Collaborative Partnership: Act as a trusted advisor to senior engineering leadership. You will translate complex security requirements into business outcomes, ensuring that security is viewed as an accelerator for the CX ecosystem and TAC tooling.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Collaborate across the broader Cisco ecosystem, including Operations and IT, to ensure that security patterns are repeatable, scalable, and aligned with our overall AI safety and governance frameworks.
Minimum Qualifications
• 10+ years’ experience in the software industry with a focus on security, deep hands-on experience in cloud-native architectures (eg: AWS/Azure) and AI/ML integration.
• Demonstrated ability to secure AI models and applications, specifically addressing LLM-related vulnerabilities and data privacy concerns.
• Strong background in secure software development lifecycles (SDLC), architecture validation for large-scale, complex ecosystems and preferably in threat modeling.
• Experience in quantifying security risks and providing clear guidance with influence to product managers and engineering leads.
Preferred Qualifications
• Prior experience working with large-scale customer support or technical assistance platforms (e.g., TAC engineering environments).
• Deep understanding of AI safety, ethical AI, and global data protection regulations as they apply to cloud-based SaaS offerings.
• Experience integrating security checkpoints into fast-paced, high-velocity CI/CD pipelines.
• A track record of mentoring senior-level engineers and fostering a security-first culture within high-performing technical teams.
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:
The starting salary range posted for this position is $198,800.00 to $267,500.00 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
$225,000.00 - $374,100.00
Non-Metro New York State & Washington State
$208,600.00 - $330,000.00
• 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.
Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Meet the Team
As a Principal AI Security Architect, you will join a specialized team within Security and Trust Organization serving as the senior software security technical advisor for Cisco’s Customer Experience (CX) organization. We act as partners, to the business, embedding ourselves directly into product management and software development cycles. Our mission is to ensure the secure design, development, and delivery of Cisco’s most critical platforms, including the Cisco IQ ecosystem. We work with our product management and engineering counterparts, providing the technical authority and architectural guidance necessary to accelerate innovation while maintaining a robust security and risk posture.
Your Impact
In this role, you will provide expert technical leadership to product, platform, and offer teams, ensuring that software development and AI functionality is integrated securely from inception to delivery.
Your Impact Will Include
• Strategic AI Guardrails: Define and implement security guardrails for AI-embedded applications. You will proactively address risks such as prompt injection, data leakage, privacy violations, and unauthorized cross-customer data access.
• Architectural Leadership: Serve as the authority on secure cloud architecture within AWS and Azure environments. Review complex designs to ensure they meet Cisco’s security standards before they reach the market.
• Risk-Based Decision Making: Evaluate the security risk of new releases (Critical, High, Medium, Low) and provide actionable, technical remediation paths to product teams, helping them ship securely without sacrificing speed.
• Collaborative Partnership: Act as a trusted advisor to senior engineering leadership. You will translate complex security requirements into business outcomes, ensuring that security is viewed as an accelerator for the CX ecosystem and TAC tooling.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Collaborate across the broader Cisco ecosystem, including Operations and IT, to ensure that security patterns are repeatable, scalable, and aligned with our overall AI safety and governance frameworks.
Minimum Qualifications
• 10+ years’ experience in the software industry with a focus on security, deep hands-on experience in cloud-native architectures (eg: AWS/Azure) and AI/ML integration.
• Demonstrated ability to secure AI models and applications, specifically addressing LLM-related vulnerabilities and data privacy concerns.
• Strong background in secure software development lifecycles (SDLC), architecture validation for large-scale, complex ecosystems and preferably in threat modeling.
• Experience in quantifying security risks and providing clear guidance with influence to product managers and engineering leads.
Preferred Qualifications
• Prior experience working with large-scale customer support or technical assistance platforms (e.g., TAC engineering environments).
• Deep understanding of AI safety, ethical AI, and global data protection regulations as they apply to cloud-based SaaS offerings.
• Experience integrating security checkpoints into fast-paced, high-velocity CI/CD pipelines.
• A track record of mentoring senior-level engineers and fostering a security-first culture within high-performing technical teams.
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:
The starting salary range posted for this position is $198,800.00 to $267,500.00 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
$225,000.00 - $374,100.00
Non-Metro New York State & Washington State
$208,600.00 - $330,000.00
• 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.
💡 Quick Summary
Seeking a career-building opportunity? The Principal AI Security Architect position is now open for candidates interested in the IT Engineer & Developer Jobs sector. This role in Chicago offers a professional environment and growth potential.
Requirement Snapshot: Candidates should possess basic communication skills, a proactive attitude, and the ability to work in a team. Experience in IT Engineer & Developer Jobs is a plus.