Senior Threat Intelligence Researcher- AI Defense

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  • Location:
    San Francisco, California, US
  • Area of Interest
    Engineer - Software
  • Compensation Range
    192500 USD - 244700 USD
  • Job Type
    Professional
  • Technology Interest
    AI or Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Analytics
  • Job Id
    1438895

The AI Software & Platform Team delivers AI products so businesses around the world defend against threats and safeguard the most important aspects of business with security resilience. We are passionate about making businesses secure and simplifying security with zero compromise. 

YOUR IMPACT 

As a Senior Researcher, you will play a pivotal role in investigating, analyzing and mitigating emerging threats targeting AI / ML. You will work closely with the Director and Tech Lead of AI Threat Intelligence to build a world-class AI threat research capability, delivering actionable intelligence, advancing the state of AI security research, and helping secure Cisco’s AI-driven products and services. You will collaborate with fellow researchers, data scientists, security engineers, and product teams to proactively identify AI-related risks, with a strong focus on securing autonomous AI agents. 


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

-  Conduct original research into AI/ML-specific threats, including prompt injection, data poisoning, adversarial attacks, model evasion, and misuse of AI agents. 

-  Assist in modeling threats to AI agents and analyzing the security of Model Context Protocols (MCP), focusing on risks such as context leakage, corruption, unauthorized agent behavior, and external tool abuse. 

-  Monitor threat intelligence feeds, academic research, and emerging AI attack vectors to keep Cisco’s AI Defense teams informed of new risks. 

-  Contribute to writing high-quality internal intelligence reports, threat assessments, technical advisories, and research papers. 

-  Collaborate closely with engineering, security, product, and research teams to integrate findings into defense strategies and product hardening initiatives. 

-  Build small proof-of-concept demonstrations to validate attack theories against AI agents, context protocols, and model memory graphs. 

QUALIFICATIONS 

-  5+ years of experience in cybersecurity threat intelligence, adversarial research, red teaming, or offensive security, with exposure to AI/ML systems preferred. 

-  Strong foundational knowledge of AI/ML technologies, particularly LLMs, generative models, and agentic frameworks (e.g., LangChain, Hugging Face Agents). 

-  Proficiency in Python or similar scripting languages for research tasks, threat simulations, and automation. 

-  Experience conducting threat research, writing technical analyses, and contributing to security investigations or adversarial projects. 

-  Ability to clearly document and present research findings to diverse technical audiences. 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS 

-  Contributions to security research projects (whitepapers, blogs, open-source tools, or community participation). 

-  Familiarity with AI-specific threat frameworks such as MITRE ATLAS, ATT&CK for AI, or equivalent. 

-  Interest in responsible AI practices and secure deployment of autonomous and agentic AI systems. 

-  Experience working with AI/ML pipelines in cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP). 

#WEARECISCO 

#WeAreCisco where every individual brings their unique skills and perspectives together to pursue our purpose of powering an inclusive future for all. 

Our passion is connection—we celebrate our employees’ diverse set of backgrounds and focus on unlocking potential. Cisconians often experience one company, many careers where learning and development are encouraged and supported at every stage. Our technology, tools, and culture pioneered hybrid work trends, allowing all to not only give their best, but be their best. 

We understand our outstanding opportunity to bring communities together and at the heart of that is our people. One-third of Cisconians collaborate in our 30 employee resource organizations, called Inclusive Communities, to connect, foster belonging, learn to be informed allies, and make a difference. Dedicated paid time off to volunteer—80 hours each year—allows us to give back to causes we are passionate about, and nearly 86% do! 

Our purpose, driven by our people, is what makes us the worldwide leader in technology that powers the internet. Helping our customers reimagine their applications, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals is what we do best. We ensure that every step we take is a step towards a more inclusive future for all. Take your next step and be you, with us! 


Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees have access to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.

Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days of vacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco’s flexible Vacation Time Off policy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco’s Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter.  Up to 80 hours of unused sick time will be carried forward from one calendar year to the next such that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is 160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. 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 up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

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