Principal Engineer – AI & Security Platforms
Location: Bangalore, India Organization: Infrastructure & Security CTO
Meet the Team
The Infrastructure & Security CTO organization is shaping the future of Cisco’s core products by driving AI-driven, cloud-native, security-first architectures across networking and security platforms.
Your Impact
As a Principal Engineer, you will define how AI and security are embedded into Cisco’s core networking and security products. You will work at the intersection of LLMs, Zero Trust security, and cloud-native systems, delivering innovations that improve threat detection, enable secure access, and automate operations at scale.
What You’ll Do
• Integrate AI/ML and LLMs into platforms for threat detection, anomaly analysis, and intelligent policy enforcement
• Design security-first architectures, including firewall, Zero Trust / secure access, and runtime security (e.g., Tetragon / eBPF)
• Build cloud-native platform capabilities leveraging Kubernetes and multi-cloud environments
• Develop large-scale telemetry, data pipelines, and real-time inference systems to power AI-driven insights
• Design solutions across the AI security lifecycle, including model/data protection, access control, and runtime enforcement
• Drive end-to-end execution from architecture through production, including hands-on design and critical-path development
• Partner with product teams to deliver customer-facing innovation and monetization opportunities
• Lead and mentor across teams spanning security, AI, and platform engineering
Minimum Qualifications
• 12+ years in platform engineering, distributed systems, or security architecture
• Strong expertise in:
◦ Network and cloud security (firewalls, Zero Trust, secure access)
◦ Cloud-native systems (Kubernetes, microservices)
• Experience with cloud-native security (e.g., Tetragon, eBPF, or similar)
• Hands-on production experience building LLM/AI applications for security use cases, including deployment and scaling
• Strong programming skills in C/C++, Go, and/or Java, with Python for AI integration and automation
• Experience building large-scale, telemetry/data-driven platforms
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience applying AI to security or networking platforms at scale
• Deep knowledge of Zero Trust, SSE/SASE, and identity-driven architectures
• Experience with multi-cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Strong product mindset—connecting platform innovation to business outcomes
• Proven ability to drive cross-functional initiatives from concept to production
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.
Skills Required
- 12+ years in platform engineering, distributed systems, or security architecture
- Hands-on production experience building LLM/AI applications for security use cases, including deployment and scaling
- Strong expertise in network and cloud security (firewalls, Zero Trust, secure access)
- Experience with cloud-native security (e.g., Tetragon, eBPF, or similar)
- Experience with cloud-native systems (Kubernetes, microservices)
- Strong programming skills in C/C++, Go, and/or Java, with Python for AI integration and automation
- Experience building large-scale telemetry and data-driven platforms and real-time inference systems
- Experience applying AI to security or networking platforms at scale
- Deep knowledge of Zero Trust, SSE/SASE, and identity-driven architectures
- Experience with multi-cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Strong product mindset and ability to drive cross-functional initiatives from concept to production
Cisco Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Cisco and has not been reviewed or approved by Cisco.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as robust with multiple plan options and access to onsite/virtual LifeConnections Health Centers on major campuses. Company materials also highlight mental-health resources and comprehensive preventive care, supporting strong core medical benefits.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time away includes company‑wide recharge days, a paid birthday, a year‑end shutdown, and paid Critical Time Off for emergencies. Paid volunteer days further expand opportunities to step away and recharge.
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Parental & Family Support — Policies include a global minimum for paid parental leave for primary caregivers, caregiving concierge services, and on‑site children’s learning centers in select locations. In the U.S., family‑building support is consolidated under Carrot with a defined lifetime maximum, indicating structured assistance across fertility, preservation, adoption, and surrogacy.
Cisco Insights
What We Do
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) enables people to make powerful connections--whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create the Internet solutions that make networks possible--providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time. Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies. Today, with more than 71,000 employees worldwide, this tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products and solutions in the company's core development areas of routing and switching, as well as in advanced technologies such as home networking, IP telephony, optical networking, security, storage area networking, and wireless technology. In addition to its products, Cisco provides a broad range of service offerings, including technical support and advanced services. Cisco sells its products and services, both directly through its own sales force as well as through its channel partners, to large enterprises, commercial businesses, service providers, and consumers.
