As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.
The Security Transformation team drives AI-enabled innovation across Cyber Security by developing secure AI platforms, intelligent agents, automation capabilities, and enterprise-scale AI solutions. This role contributes to expanding Ciena's AI ecosystem and accelerating AI adoption across security functions. The position focuses on delivering secure, scalable, and responsible AI solutions that improve cybersecurity outcomes.
How you will make an impact:- Design, build, and operationalize AI-powered applications, copilots, and autonomous agents for cybersecurity use cases.
- Develop Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions leveraging enterprise knowledge sources and security data.
- Create MCP-enabled integrations connecting AI agents with security tools, workflows, and enterprise platforms.
- Build secure and scalable AI services using modern software engineering and DevOps practices.
- Enhance self-hosted AI infrastructure, model serving platforms, and AI observability capabilities.
- Develop security automation workflows that improve analyst productivity and reduce operational overhead.
- Partner with Security Operations, Risk, Product Security, Vulnerability Management, and Threat Intelligence teams to deliver AI-driven solutions.
- Education: Master's degree OR Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, Cyber Security, Data Science, or a related field.
- Experience: 5+ years of software engineering, AI engineering, machine learning engineering, or platform engineering experience.
- Development of Python-based solutions and API-driven architectures.
- Building and deploying production-grade AI applications and services.
- Application of Large Language Models (LLMs), AI agents, prompt engineering, Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, and semantic search.
- Application of software engineering practices including CI/CD, version control, testing, and code quality processes.
- Analytical troubleshooting, problem solving, communication, and stakeholder management capabilities.
- Experience with self-hosted LLM environments and enterprise AI platforms.
- Experience developing agentic workflows and multi-agent systems.
- Knowledge of AI security risks including prompt injection, model abuse, data leakage, and secure agent design.
Nice to haves:
- Experience building AI solutions for cybersecurity use cases.
- Experience with self-hosted LLM environments and enterprise AI platforms.
- Experience developing agentic workflows and multi-agent systems.
- Experience integrating security tools through MCP or API frameworks.
- Knowledge of AI security risks including prompt injection, model abuse, data leakage, and secure agent design.
- Certifications: Microsoft AI Engineer, Azure AI Engineer, AWS ML, CISSP, or related certifications.
At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.
Ciena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.
If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.
Skills Required
- Master’s degree or bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, Cyber Security, Data Science, or a related field
- 5+ years of software engineering, AI engineering, machine learning engineering, or platform engineering experience
- Experience developing Python-based solutions and API-driven architectures
- Experience building and deploying production-grade AI applications and services
- Experience with LLMs, AI agents, prompt engineering, RAG, vector databases, and semantic search
- Experience applying CI/CD, version control, testing, and code quality practices
- Analytical troubleshooting, problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management capabilities
- Experience with self-hosted LLM environments and enterprise AI platforms
- Experience developing agentic workflows and multi-agent systems
- Knowledge of AI security risks, including prompt injection, model abuse, data leakage, and secure agent design
- Experience building AI solutions for cybersecurity use cases
- Experience integrating security tools through MCP or API frameworks
- Microsoft AI Engineer, Azure AI Engineer, AWS ML, CISSP, or related certification
Ciena Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Ciena and has not been reviewed or approved by Ciena.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is often characterized as competitive or above-market in certain roles and regions, with references to market-aligned salary ranges and transparency around pay bands.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is frequently framed as comprehensive, including medical, dental, and vision, with indications that coverage can extend to dependents and is viewed as a meaningful component of total rewards.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off offerings are described as flexible and generous, including Flex/uncapped PTO in many cases and additional paid time for volunteering.
Ciena Insights
What We Do
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a global leader in networking systems, services, and software. We build the world’s most adaptive networks to enable our customers to deliver richer, more connected experiences for all users. At our core, Ciena is a company rooted in people. We prioritize deep, collaborative relationships within our teams and alongside our customers, partners, and communities around the world. For three-plus decades, we’ve brought our humanity to our relentless pursuit of innovation. We continue to lead the evolution of networking with a strong track record of industry firsts. As end-user expectations skyrocket, our customers and their networks must transform. Ciena powers this transformation by driving next-generation solutions built for maximum openness and agility—today and into the future. Corporate/Brand Values: • Customer First • Integrity • Velocity • Innovation • Outstanding People We're the perfect size for you to make an impact. W Only Ciena has the depth of expertise and the culture of collaboration and partnership required to help our partners evolve. We do this by strategically integrating hardware, services, and software in an open environment to ensure our clients’ networks are ‘fit for flexibility’ today and into the f
Why Work With Us
We are known for our industry-firsts, including the first coherent optical solution, converged packet-optical platform, and intelligence automation platform. Our commitment extends beyond innovation, logging in over 35,000 volunteer hours and $2 million to worthy causes in 2023. We're the perfect size and culture for you to make a difference.
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