Tech lead - AI Software Engineer

Cisco Systems, Inc.•San Jose, CA

29d•$212,300 - $275,800

About The Position

The AI Defense team is a passionate and innovative group of experts dedicated to safeguarding AI systems and ensuring their safety, integrity, and robustness. We are committed to staying at the forefront of the field, employing innovative techniques and strategies to tackle complex challenges. As part of our team, you will have the opportunity to contribute to the development and deployment of secure AI solutions that make a meaningful impact in industry, and for a better world. Your Impact Lead the design, development, and evolution of our AI validation platform, enabling secure and reliable deployment of AI systems. Drive the creation and curation of AI artifacts including the AI validation prompt bank, AI security policies, AI taxonomies and more, supporting both AI validation workflows and broader AI product development. Collaborate across engineering, security research, and product teams to establish robust frameworks for evaluating AI systems' trustworthiness and resilience. Provide technical leadership and mentorship within the team, establishing leading practices for development, testing, and artifact management. 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.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field and 6+ years of software engineering experience, or Master's degree with 4+ years of experience.
Experience designing and building scalable cloud-based systems (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker).
Proven experience in technical leadership, architecture design, and end-to-end feature ownership in AI/ML or platform domains.
Experience with API design and frameworks (e.g. OpenAPI, GraphQL, gRPC, REST, etc.)

Nice To Haves

Exceptional problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyze complex requirements and propose effective solutions.
Experience developing, deploying, and maintaining applications in AWS environment with cloud native solutions.
Experience designing or managing structured content like taxonomy systems, policy engines, or evaluation datasets.
Background in AI security, privacy, or model robustness (e.g., red teaming, DLP for LLMs, misuse detection).

Responsibilities

Lead the design, development, and evolution of our AI validation platform, enabling secure and reliable deployment of AI systems.
Drive the creation and curation of AI artifacts including the AI validation prompt bank, AI security policies, AI taxonomies and more, supporting both AI validation workflows and broader AI product development.
Collaborate across engineering, security research, and product teams to establish robust frameworks for evaluating AI systems' trustworthiness and resilience.
Provide technical leadership and mentorship within the team, establishing leading practices for development, testing, and artifact management.

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