Head of Security & Research

💻 Job Title: Head of Security & Research

🤑 Salary: up to ~€170k (potential flex for the right candidate)

📈 Equity: up to 0.4% (currently valued at $500k; will be worth $4m at unicorn status which they're expecting to reach within ~4 years)

📍 Location: fully remote anywhere in Europe (quarterly team get togethers)

🔐 Company: Cyber Security SaaS start-up building AI agents to identify and resolve cloud vulnerabilities

👥 Team: ~25 (aiming for 35+ by year end)

💸 Funding: $30m+ Series A

Are you looking for the next big thing and want to work on novel products? 🚀

We’re looking for a senior security leader to take on a hybrid role spanning security research, leadership and product innovation - if you want to architect the future of intelligent security, this could be your career-defining role at a well-funded start-up, operating at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity.

This role is for someone who thrives at combining deep technical expertise with research & strategic leadership, and is eager to define the standards of how AI transforms security.

🫵 What you'll do:

• Lead security research - drive analysis of AI outputs, create feedback loops for continuous improvement and explore new approaches to AI-assisted threat detection and vulnerability assessment. As well as defining evaluation frameworks, metrics and processes to translate research into practical product capabilities.
• Build Enterprise-Grade security - design and implement security policies, controls and procedures that scale with growth and meet enterprise customer expectations.
• Embed security into Product Development - partner with engineering and product teams to ensure robust, secure-by-design practices in next-generation AI solutions.
• Shape technical security strategy - apply expertise in cloud and container security to inform model training, vulnerability assessment methodologies and threat landscape analysis.
• Drive compliance - prepare the organisation for frameworks such as SOC2 and ISO27001, ensuring security practices align with enterprise procurement needs.
• Act as a Thought Leader - represent the company externally through community engagement, publications and speaking opportunities.

✅ Must have requirements:

• Proven leadership experience in cybersecurity, with a track record of leading security teams and programs, ideally in fast-growing startup environments.
• Strong background in cloud and container security, vulnerability analysis and defensive strategies.
• Product Security mindset, with experience influencing product design and contributing to security solutions in the market.
• Past roles as a security engineer, red teamer or software engineer with ability to dive deep into technical analysis.
• Research & innovation experience, as well as familiarity of developing novel methodologies and advancing security practices.
• Experience building and scaling enterprise security programs aligned with compliance frameworks and business growth.
• Ability to work effectively across product, engineering and business teams.

👍 Bonus points for:

• AI/ML expertise and understanding of security challenges in such environments