# Security Engineer

**Company:** [Cognition](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/cognition)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Security Engineering
**Salary:** $260k – $300k/yr
**Experience:** 7+ years
**Skills:** Python, Rust, Go, Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Azure, Cloud Security, Web Security, Threat Modeling, Incident Response, Sandboxing, Secrets Management, Identity And Access Management
**Posted:** 2026-06-16

> Security Engineer responsible for securing AI agent execution, infrastructure, and product surfaces at an applied AI lab building Devin and Windsurf. Requires deep security engineering, software engineering fundamentals, and cloud/web security expertise.

## Job Description

## What You'll Accomplish
- Secure the agent execution surface: Design and harden the sandboxing, isolation, and runtime controls that let Devin safely execute untrusted code and use tools across long-horizon tasks.
- Own product and infrastructure security: Lead threat modeling, secure design reviews, and vulnerability management across Devin, Windsurf, and the underlying infrastructure they run on.
- Build security tooling that engineers actually use: Create internal systems for secrets management, identity and access, dependency security, and detection that integrate naturally into how the team ships.
- Lead incident response and detection: Build the detection pipeline, run incident response, and turn every event into systemic improvements.
- Drive customer trust: Partner with go-to-market and legal teams to support compliance and customer trust initiatives. Build the controls that customers expect from a tool deeply embedded in their engineering workflow.

## Exceptional Candidates Have Demonstrated
- Deep security engineering: Hands-on experience across product security, infrastructure security, and detection and response.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals: Security at Cognition means writing real code; proficiency in Python, Rust, Go, and comfort owning complex systems codebases.
- Cloud security expertise: Practical experience securing Kubernetes, cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), and multi-tenant compute environments.
- Web security expertise: Hands-on experience hardening complex, modern web applications.
- Threat modeling and adversarial thinking: You can look at a system and quickly identify how it breaks; you think like an attacker and design like a defender.
- Incident response: Calm, methodical, and effective under pressure; experience leading incidents end to end and driving the fixes that follow.
- Comfort with novel problem spaces: You are excited rather than intimidated by the security challenges unique to autonomous agents and AI-native developer tools.
- Relevant industry experience: Prior experience at a frontier AI lab, applied AI company, or developer tools company.
- Degree from a top-tier university: BS, MS, or equivalent in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related technical discipline from a highly selective program.

## Compensation & Benefits
- Base Salary: $260,000 - $300,000 + significant early-stage equity
- Medical, Dental, Vision: Fully paid for you and your dependents
- 401(k): Company match included
- Perks: Private chef, cozy slippers, endless snacks, and more

## Similar roles

- [Systems Software Engineer, Security, First Party Hardware](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/5aa1f4d4-0fc1-457f-b101-6b328345a43a) - OpenAI - San Francisco, CA - $266k – $445k/yr
- [Product Security Architect](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/fc2c8fc8-cafc-4107-abb9-294585a9ee20) - Replit - Foster City, CA - $250k – $380k/yr
- [Offensive Security Engineer, Agent Security](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/fbc78d2b-399e-4d4d-b8b0-5da69ed501fe) - OpenAI - Remote - $278k – $490k/yr
- [Senior Manager, Enterprise Security](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/7138cee3-79a4-4d53-96fd-ae5b31046ab1) - Abridge - San Francisco, CA - $240k – $299k/yr
- [Sr. Manager, Security Engineering](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/069e792c-a9a5-436e-9e3c-b60b7961dc12) - Material Security - Remote - $240k – $280k/yr

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/8152ef3a-1ca1-4080-b871-79761cccbf27
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/8152ef3a-1ca1-4080-b871-79761cccbf27