Senior Software Technical Leader, Duo Identity AI

Role Description

In an era where identity is the new perimeter, the traditional boundaries of cybersecurity are being redefined. At Cisco Security, our Identity AI team is at the forefront of this transformation, building "identity-first" solutions that go beyond simple authentication. We are looking for a visionary Software Leader to help us bridge the critical gap between verifying who a user is and validating the intent behind their actions.

By joining our team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Cisco Identity Intelligence and Duo, architecting intelligent, adaptive systems that protect the digital fabric of the world’s most critical infrastructures. If you are passionate about building scalable, AI-driven security platforms and want to solve the industry’s most complex access challenges, this is your opportunity to lead innovation at the intersection of security and intelligence.

Your Impact

In this role, you will have the opportunity to serve as the architectural backbone of our data-driven security mission. Key responsibilities include:

• Architectural Leadership & Strategy:
  • Own the end-to-end architecture and cross-product integration strategy for our Kafka-based data infrastructure.
  • Serve as the primary technical authority for data ecosystems spanning Cisco Identity Intelligence, Duo, and our emerging agentic product lines.
  • Ensure seamless interoperability across technical and organizational landscapes.
• Data Ecosystem Innovation:
  • Drive the design and implementation of high-scale, event-driven data flows.
  • Define the standards for schema management, data quality, and observability.
  • Ensure that our analytics and agentic products have the reliable, high-fidelity data needed to make real-time, identity-first security decisions.
• Operational Excellence & Reliability:
  • Influence production readiness and operational maturity.
  • Use your deep expertise in large-scale Kafka deployments to build resilient, self-healing systems.
  • Ensure that our infrastructure is scalable and highly observable, maintaining rigorous uptime and performance standards.
• Multi-functional Influence:
  • Act as a central technical bridge between disparate engineering teams.
  • Influence decision makers across the organization to align on data standards and integration patterns.
  • Foster a culture of collaboration that accelerates our ability to deliver next-generation security capabilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 12+ years of industry experience, or Masters and 8+ years of industry experience, or PhD and 6+ years of industry experience.
• 4+ years of experience with Kafka, data infrastructure, and/or streaming architecture to include building and operating production systems.
• Experience in AI-driven development including writing code, building systems, and developing strategies for using AI to assist in work.
• Experience building cloud services including AWS, GCP, or Azure.

Requirements

• Experience in Identity and Security domains.
• SRE/operations experience to run this infrastructure reliably in production.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and identify technical solutions and paths forward.
• Ability to influence without authority.
• Ability to continuously iterate and make decisions with a bias of action.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave.
• Short and long-term disability coverage.
• Basic life insurance.
• 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.
• 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year for non-exempt employees.
• Flexible vacation time off program for exempt employees.
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter.
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.