Application Security Engineer

Application Security Engineer Location: RTP, North Carolina, US The application window is expected to close on: 07/06/2026 Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received. Meet the Team Join Cisco’s Enterprise AI team, the core group enabling Generative AI powered experiences across Cisco. Our mission is to build secure, scalable AI platforms that empower teams to safely develop, deploy, and operationalize AI-powered solutions. We operate at the intersection of applied AI, cloud infrastructure and security —partnering across engineering, security, compliance, and product teams to bring trusted AI to life at enterprise scale. We are a fast-growing, highly collaborative team of platform engineers, AI engineers, and data scientists who value technical depth, ownership, and pragmatic execution. What makes this team exciting is the opportunity to define how secure Generative AI is built and governed inside a global technology leader. Your Impact Embed security into the Secure SDLC by defining and implementing guardrails across design, development, testing, and deployment phases. Integrate and optimize application security tooling, including SAST, DAST, SCA, and secrets scanning, within CI/CD pipelines to proactively identify and remediate vulnerabilities. Lead threat modeling and secure design reviews for cloud-native and microservices-based applications. Drive container and Kubernetes security practices, including image hardening, vulnerability management, and runtime controls. Define and enforce API security standards, including authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and protection against common API threats. Partner with engineering teams to triage, prioritize, and remediate security findings, improving overall security posture and developer experience. Establish secure coding standards and provide guidance on common vulnerabilities (e.g., OWASP Top 10) and remediation best practices. Enhance software supply chain security through dependency management, artifact integrity, and build pipeline protections. Minimum Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or related field with 6+ years of experience in cybersecurity or cloud security engineering. 3+ years of hands-on experience securing GCP, Azure, or AWS environments in production enterprise environments. Experience integrating security controls into CI/CD pipelines and Kubernetes environments, including container image hardening, vulnerability scanning, image signing, and runtime policy enforcement. Experience securing AI/ML workloads and Generative AI systems, including model, data, and inference endpoint protection Preferred Qualifications Cybersecurity background and operational experience Certifications from ISC2 (e.g CISSP, CCSP) or ISACA (e.g., SSCP, CC, CISA, CISM. Experience designing and managing IAM, encryption, and network security controls. 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 $128,400.00 to $172,300.00 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: $158,800.00 - $237,400.00 Non-Metro New York state & Washington state: $137,700.00 - $211,100.00 * 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. Additional Locations: San Jose, California, US