AI Researcher

Cisco•Milpitas, CA

1d•$184,000 - $238,800•Hybrid

About The Position

The AI Researcher will conduct threat intelligence and security research to help make AI safer to build, deploy, and use. The role focuses on identifying and analyzing threats to AI models, applications, agentic workflows, and supply chains, and translating research into practical protections for cloud-scale AI systems. The position is hybrid in the San Jose/San Francisco, California area, with 2–3 days per week in the office. The researcher will develop and maintain automated threat detections and work closely with AI/ML teams, product managers, and engineering teams to incorporate production-ready defenses into Cisco Cloud Control. Research may be translated into detection pipelines, security frameworks, evaluations, open-source tools, customer guidance, and product innovations. The team also contributes to industry frameworks, technical publications, customer and partner engagement, and education.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and 5 years of related experience, or a master’s degree and 3 years of related experience, or a Ph.D. and 1 year of related experience.
Prior experience in one or more areas such as cyber threat intelligence, security research, vulnerability analysis, incident response, or detection engineering.
Ability to derive actionable insights from threat intelligence, large datasets, and/or ambiguous signals to clarify the threat landscape.
Applied experience developing and maintaining detection content, including YARA rules, behavioral detections, or threat queries.
Experience conducting OSINT-based threat investigations and producing clear, actionable intelligence reports.
Previous experience with threat intelligence platforms and/or evaluating adversarial risks in AI/ML systems, such as prompt injection, data poisoning, model backdoors, evasion, or agent and tool abuse.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with dark-web research methods.
Applied experience with agentic AI architectures, tool-calling protocols such as the Model Context Protocol, or AI security and guardrail frameworks.
Proficiency in Python and SQL for research, data analysis, and automation.
Experience using AI-assisted coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex to automate workflows, accelerate research, and improve investigations through scripts, workflows, or other tooling.
Background in adversarial red teaming, blue teaming, or security operations.
Experience mapping threats and controls to frameworks such as the Cisco AI Security and Safety Framework, MITRE ATLAS, and relevant OWASP Top 10 frameworks.
Familiarity with the end-to-end AI lifecycle, including model development and training, data ingestion, application integration, deployment, and runtime security.

Responsibilities

Conduct AI threat intelligence research to identify, track, and profile malicious actors and adversarial techniques targeting AI models, applications, and agentic workflows.
Develop, evaluate, and maintain detection content, including heuristics, behavioral detections, and telemetry-driven analytics, for integration into customer-facing cloud products.
Research and assess security risks across the AI lifecycle, including model development and training, deployment, and runtime use; investigate issues such as prompt injection chains, provenance, data poisoning, backdoors, and malicious dependencies.
Conduct adversarial testing and red teaming across models, applications, and agentic deployments.
Translate research into practical impact through evaluations, detection pipelines, security frameworks, open-source tools, and customer guidance.
Analyze and synthesize large-scale threat telemetry using platforms such as Snowflake and AI-assisted analysis tools.
Partner with engineering and product leadership to translate adversarial research into automated, production-ready defense mechanisms in Cisco Cloud Control.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability coverage
Basic life insurance
Cisco restricted stock unit grants may be available, subject to eligibility and continued employment vesting conditions
10 paid holidays per full calendar year
One floating holiday for non-exempt employees
Paid day off for employee’s birthday
Paid year-end holiday shutdown
Four paid personal wellness days
Paid vacation time for non-exempt employees (16 days per full calendar year for full-time employees)
Flexible vacation time off program for eligible exempt employees
80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1, 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 volunteer days per full calendar year
Annual bonuses may be available for non-sales roles