Security Research Engineering Technical Leader
About The Position
Cisco is seeking a Security Research Engineering Technical Leader to serve as the security authority for a product portfolio spanning applications, networking platforms, cloud solutions, and automation platforms. The role maintains a current, data-backed view of portfolio security posture and translates threat trends, architectural changes, and security debt into actionable priorities for product and engineering leadership. It partners with Product Management, Engineering, IT/Enterprise Operations, and Business Information Security Officer teams to align security priorities with business objectives. The Technical Leader sets security architecture standards, reviews and approves secure designs, and makes architecture trade-off decisions while applying security-by-design and security-by-default principles to different contexts. The role leads portfolio-wide threat modeling, adapts methods to the systems being assessed, and ensures models are evidence-based and connected to design decisions. It also supports secure integration of AI into in-scope platforms, applies Software Security AI frameworks, and advocates for AI capabilities that improve security outcomes. The role coordinates security subject-matter experts, thinks like an attacker, and presents prioritized unmitigated security risks at release or delivery. It defines and leads portfolio security engineering metrics, including risk reduction, mean time to remediate, security debt, and developer adoption.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree and 8 years of related experience, or a master’s degree and 6 years, or a Ph.D. and 3 years, or equivalent related work experience.
- Proven experience leading threat modeling and secure design or architecture reviews for complex software systems, including AI- and LLM-enabled features.
- Experience interpreting SAST, DAST, and SCA results and translating findings into risk-based, evidence-backed remediation guidance.
- Extensive experience integrating security controls into modern CI/CD pipelines and cloud-native environments, including Kubernetes and containers.
- Validated ability to influence engineering and product leadership and drive security outcomes across teams without direct authority.
Nice To Haves
- Depth in one or more specialized areas: identity and access management, cryptography, data security, application security, or software supply chain security, including SBOM generation, artifact signing, and SLSA-aligned practices.
- Experience partnering with internal information technology, operations, or platform engineering teams on applications and workflow or automation platforms.
- Experience defining and using security metrics to influence roadmap and investment decisions.
- Advanced knowledge of emerging security threats, vulnerability research, and industry-standard security frameworks.
- Relevant industry certifications such as CISSP, CSSLP, CCSP, or GIAC.
Responsibilities
- Maintain a current, data-backed view of security posture and portfolio risk.
- Translate threat trends, architectural shifts, and security debt into actionable priorities for product and engineering leadership.
- Advise and influence Product Management, Engineering, IT/Enterprise Operations, and Business Information Security Officer partners to align security priorities with business objectives.
- Set security architecture standards and review and approve secure designs across the portfolio.
- Apply security-by-design and security-by-default principles and make architecture trade-off decisions.
- Lead portfolio-wide threat modeling, adapting the depth and techniques to each system and tying evidence-based models to design decisions.
- Integrate AI securely into in-scope platforms, apply Software Security AI frameworks, and advocate for AI capabilities that improve security outcomes.
- Threat-model and assess systems from an attacker’s perspective, coordinating security subject-matter experts in areas such as cryptography and identity.
- Present prioritized lists of unmitigated security risks at release or delivery.
- Define and lead security engineering metrics, including risk reduction, mean time to remediate, security debt, and developer adoption.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
- Paid parental leave
- Short- and long-term disability coverage
- Basic life insurance
- Paid holidays and floating holiday for non-exempt employees
- Employee birthday day off, year-end holiday shutdown, and personal wellness days
- Paid vacation or flexible vacation time off, depending on employee classification
- Sick time off, with limited carryover of unused hours
- Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues
- Optional paid volunteer days
- Annual bonuses for eligible non-sales employees
- Potential Cisco restricted stock unit grants, subject to eligibility and vesting conditions
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
