Senior AI Application Security Engineer

Overview

PepsiCo’s Global Application Security Program integrates security into software development at enterprise scale. As AI becomes a core component of enterprise applications, our mission expands to ensure AI systems are designed, developed, deployed, and operated securely by default.

This role serves as a senior technical contributor responsible for designing, implementing, and advancing AI Application Security capabilities. The ideal candidate brings deep technical expertise across AI systems, application security, and cloud-native architectures to solve complex security challenges and enable secure AI adoption across the enterprise.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement advanced security controls for AI-enabled applications, including LLMs, AI agents, RAG pipelines, MCP servers, and AI workflows.
• Perform complex AI application threat modeling and security architecture assessments for high-risk systems.
• Design and implement reusable AI security capabilities, libraries, frameworks, and automation to improve security at scale.
• Develop security controls for prompts, agent memory, tool execution, model interactions, identity, authorization, and sensitive data protection.
• Research, prototype, and evaluate emerging AI security technologies, attack techniques, and defensive capabilities.
• Identify and mitigate AI-specific threats, including prompt injection, indirect prompt injection, model poisoning, jailbreaks, insecure tool execution, excessive agency, sensitive data disclosure, and AI supply chain risks.
• Design and integrate AI security controls into enterprise AI platforms, CI/CD pipelines, and developer workflows.
• Develop reusable reference implementations, security patterns, and engineering guidance for AI-enabled applications.
• Partner with development, platform engineering, architecture, and Data & AI teams to solve complex AI security challenges.
• Conduct advanced security assessments, code reviews, and architecture reviews for AI-enabled applications.
• Evaluate AI security tooling and recommend improvements to increase detection accuracy, automation, and operational efficiency.
• Develop technical documentation, implementation guides, and engineering standards for AI security capabilities.
• Contribute to AI security metrics and continuously improve platform effectiveness and security posture.
• Mentor junior engineers through technical coaching, design reviews, and knowledge sharing.
• Support AI security investigations, incident response, and complex vulnerability remediation.
• Participate in Agile planning and contribute to strategic Application Security initiatives.
• Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation, including weekends and holidays.

Compensation and Benefits:

• The expected compensation range for this position is between $93,500 - $156,450.
• Location, confirmed job-related skills, experience, and education will be considered in setting actual starting salary. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range during the hiring process.
• Bonus based on performance and eligibility target payout is 10% of annual salary paid out annually.
• Paid time off subject to eligibility, including paid parental leave, vacation, sick, and bereavement.
• In addition to salary, PepsiCo offers a comprehensive benefits package to support our employees and their families, subject to elections and eligibility: Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, Health, and Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Insurance (Accident, Group Legal, Life), Defined Contribution Retirement Plan.

Qualifications

Technical Skills:

• Advanced knowledge of secure software development, secure architecture, and application security engineering.
• Advanced experience performing application and AI threat modeling using frameworks such as STRIDE, PASTA, or equivalent.
• Deep understanding of the OWASP Top 10, OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications, and secure software engineering practices.
• Strong experience designing and securing cloud-native applications in AWS (preferred), Azure, or GCP.
• Strong proficiency in Python and/or Go.
• Experience integrating security into CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps workflows.
• Deep understanding of modern AI architectures, including:
  • Large Language Models (LLMs)
  • AI Agents
  • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
  • Model Context Protocol (MCP)
  • Embeddings and Vector Databases
  • Tool Calling and Function Execution
  • AI Memory and Context Management
  • Multi-Agent Systems
• Experience mitigating AI threats including prompt injection, model poisoning, jailbreaks, insecure tool execution, excessive agency, prompt leakage, sensitive data disclosure, and AI supply chain attacks.
• Experience evaluating AI security technologies such as Promptfoo, NVIDIA Garak, Protect AI, Lakera, HiddenLayer, Microsoft AI Security, or equivalent.
• Experience with AI development frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, MCP, OpenAI SDK, Azure AI Foundry, Amazon Bedrock, or similar.
• Strong understanding of identity, authorization, API security, cryptography, secrets management, and runtime security for AI systems.

Non-technical Skills:

• Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• High integrity with sound judgment and accountability.
• Exceptional analytical, troubleshooting, and systems-thinking abilities.
• Self-motivated with a passion for solving complex technical problems.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills across engineering teams.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, global environment with evolving technologies and ambiguity.
• Ability to perform effectively under pressure.

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Our Company will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and all other applicable laws, including but not limited to, San Francisco Police Code Sections 4901-4919, commonly referred to as the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance; and Chapter XVII, Article 9 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, commonly referred to as the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status. PepsiCo is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Female / Minority / Disability / Protected Veteran / Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity / Age If you'd like more information about your EEO rights as an applicant under the law, please download the available EEO is the Law & EEO is the Law Supplement documents. View PepsiCo EEO Policy. Please view our Pay Transparency Statement.