Senior Staff Software Engineer – AI/Security Platform

Cisco

Senior Staff Engineer building AI-native platforms that detect and predict cyber threats for Cisco and Splunk. Architecting distributed security data systems and agentic SOC capabilities.

Posted 9/3/2026full-timeSan Jose • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $214,100 - $309,800 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates expertise in designing and building distributed systems for security operations, with a strong focus on AI-enhanced threat detection and prediction. Proficient in developing scalable backend services and automation workflows, while collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Distributed Systems DesignPython Backend DevelopmentCI/CD Pipeline ImplementationData Platform DevelopmentThreat Analytics and Response

ATS Keywords

Tailor your resume

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills

Security Operations ConceptsData Lakes and WarehousesLarge-Scale Security TelemetryAPIs and Automation WorkflowsEvent Storage SystemsRAG and GraphRAG PipelinesTraining Workloads for ModelsModel Evaluation ExperimentsThreat Hunting Support SystemsAgent Systems Design

Soft Skills

Collaboration with Product ManagersCommunication with Security SMEsProblem-Solving in Security Context

Tools & Technologies

GitHubGitLabJiraAutomated Testing FrameworksFAISSPinecone

Industry Keywords

Attack Surface ManagementThreat DetectionTriage and InvestigationCybersecurity EmbeddingsAI-Assisted Analyst Workflows

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudCyber SecurityDistributed SystemsPythonSplunk

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Design and build systems combining security-relevant data, detection signals, context, and foundation models to spot and predict active and impending threats
Prototype and test AI features for decoding events and system environments and predicting anomalies and threats
Work with security SMEs and security researchers to validate real-world utility
Develop an AIDevOps pipeline for rapid experimentation with data, knowledge bases, models, and context memory
Establish clear, measurable success criteria to evaluate iterations
Architect and build a distributed platform correlating trillions of events and signals
Synthesize events and signals into explainable findings and alerts for triage resolution agents
Build a key capability of the Agentic SOC
Collaborate with product and platform teams to co-design AI-enhanced threat detection and prediction workflows
Contribute to the core architecture powering AI-native security operations and trusted enterprise automation at Splunk and Cisco

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's Degree with 12+ years of related experience or Master's with 8+ years of related experience
Understanding of security operations concepts, including attack surface management, threat analytics, detection, triage, investigation, and response
Familiarity with endpoint logs, network traffic, authentication events, and cloud audit trails
Experience implementing data platforms and/or data lakes and warehouses
Experience building and maintaining pipelines for ingesting, parsing, and normalizing large-scale security telemetry
Expertise in distributed systems design and implementation, emphasizing storage systems and storage access layers
Consistent record building scalable backend services, APIs, and automation workflows in Python
Proficiency with CI/CD pipelines, GitHub/GitLab, Jira, and automated testing frameworks
Experience designing agent systems that perform coding tasks
Experience partnering with product managers, security SMEs, and engineers
Familiarity with TDIR/SIEM architectures, correlation searches, and threat hunting support systems
Experience automating SecOps workflows and building scalable, resilient detection infrastructure
Exposure to event storage systems or generating custom cybersecurity embeddings
Hands-on experience developing RAG and GraphRAG pipelines with databases such as FAISS or Pinecone
Skill crafting, testing, and optimizing training workloads for large language or special-purpose models such as GNNs, GCNs, and GATs
Capability to design experiments evaluating model accuracy, usability, performance, and cost
Background or interest in intuitive AI-assisted analyst workflows focused on usability, trust, and decision support

Benefits

Comp & perks

Medical, dental and 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
10 paid holidays per full calendar year
1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
Paid birthday day off
Paid year-end holiday shutdown
4 paid personal wellness days
16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year for non-exempt employees
Flexible vacation time off program for exempt employees with no defined limit, subject to availability and business limitations
80 hours of sick time on hire date and each January 1st thereafter
Up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward
Additional paid time away for critical or emergency family issues
Optional 10 paid volunteer days per full calendar year
Annual bonuses for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco’s policies
Performance-based incentive pay for sales roles
Opportunities to grow and build
Cisco careers site benefits and perks